Good afternoon,
It was another positive day for the pound as the GBP/USD cross broke through $1.70 for the first time since August 2009. Despite a lack of economic data releases from the UK, Sterling managed to find the extra few pips it needed to reach its highest level for nearly five years. The gains were short-lived though and cable quickly fell back under $1.70 and has remained within a 30 pip range ($1.6960 - $1.6990) throughout trading today.
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What to look out for this week.
It is going to be a busy week in terms of key releases and this could cause some volatility in the currency markets. From the UK tomorrow we get the latest CPI numbers which account for a majority of overall inflation and if the figure gets close to the 2% the Bank of England are targeting we could see the pound benefit.
Wednesday is probably the key day for the UK and U.S. In morning we will see the minutes from the BoE meeting which took place at the start of the month. The minutes could provide us with hints about when a rate rise will take place and could lead to increased investor confidence, which in turn will help boost the value of the pound.
In the evening the U.S. Federal Reserve will release their latest statement. It is widely expected that the FED will announce another round of tapering to their on-going stimulus package and any cut in stimulus should help the dollar. With the U.S economic recovery gaining momentum we could see the FED take the opportunity to talk about a potential interest rate rise and if that happens we could see the dollar wipe out the gains the pound made last week following Mark Carneys speech.
If you are thinking of buying or selling dollars in the coming weeks and want to ensure you are making the most from you transfer, use the link below to complete the contact form or call me directly on 0044 (0) 1442 892 065.
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