Confirmation that the UK economy experienced a significant contraction in the first quarter left the pound on a weaker footing last week. While a downward revision to the fourth quarter German gross domestic product pushed the Eurozone’s powerhouse economy into a state of recession, this failed to weigh on the euro. Meanwhile support for the [...]

A smaller than expected decline from the British Retail Consortium for retail sales figure was not enough to keep the pound from edging lower

The rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the UK, coupled with a concerning slump in service sector output, put the pound under pressure towards the end of last week. Political squabbles within the Eurozone put a dampener on the euro, meanwhile, as Germany dug in its heels over a proposed shared debt scheme [...]

The BoE to deliver its second emergency policy move in as many weeks, cutting interest rates to a fresh record low of 0.1%.

policymakers voted unanimously to slash interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25% to defend against the impact of the coronavirus.

Currency markets were rocked last week after a number of central bank’s moved to cut interest rates, as the economic impact of the coronavirus threatens to plunge parts of the world into a recession. Amidst an extremely chaotic start to the week we have seen GBP/EUR trading close to a five-month low at €1.1436, while [...]

Decrease in the odds of the Brexit transition period ending without a fresh UK-EU trade deal saw the pound fall sharply out of favour last week

The mood towards the pound improved after the UK’s manufacturing PMI delivered an unexpectedly positive reading for February. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) January meeting minutes offered encouragement to the euro, meanwhile, as their tone proved more optimistic than anticipated. A surprise contraction in the US services PMI saw the US dollar stumble ahead of [...]

Increasing evidence of a fourth quarter UK economic slowdown left the pound under pressure, pushing it away from its New Year’s highs. Although December’s finalised services PMI saw a positive revision from 49.3 to 50.0 this failed to paint an encouraging picture of the economic outlook. With the service sector ending 2019 in a state [...]

UK election results. While markets anticipated a Conservative win this did not stop GBP exchange rates from rallying sharply.