Currency exchange update 08/02/10
- Dollar rallies to 8 month high against the euro and pound on risk aversion
- Euro still facing huge pressure from majors on mounting debt worries
- Sterling mixed – holds ground against euro but collapses against the buck
- Gold trades at $1,065.70, up $13.50 from Fridays close, Oil at $71.68/barrel
- Dubai World prepares for a firesale—QE2 and Cirque du Soleil may go!
Dollar unmoved by poor employment report
- No communiqué from G7
- But it still does not like volatility
Good morning. With one eye on boosting ice exports the Canadian finance minister hosted the weekend G7 ecofin meeting north of the Arctic Circle in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Some people will know the place better by its old colonial name, Frobisher Bay. A jolly programme of leisure diversions was available to delegates. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and some colleagues went dog-sledding but not all the activities were so popular. French finance minister Christine Lagarde quite rightly declined to take part in the moose wrestling and all the delegates made the excuse that they were too tired to go clubbing, even though their hosts had made hundreds of baby seals available.
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Club Med worries spook investors
- Safe-haven yen and dollar lead the way
- US non-farm payrolls today
Good morning. Playing away is no bar to high political office, as foreign secretary Cook, president Berlusconi and every French prime minister since Napoleon have demonstrated. It would therefore seem unfair if Fabio Capello were to strip John Terry of his armband today for doing so. No, he should sack him for being a cheapskate. Not only has he offered to flog off his complimentary box at Wembley for £4,000 (cf. today’s Daily Mail) but, despite having a perfectly decent Bentley at home, he’s been riding the team bicycle (cf. every paper in the country).
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Currency exchange update 04/02/10
- BOE expected to keep benchmark rates on hold
- US payroll figures set for an improvement
- Euro drops below $1.4 in overnight trade
- Euro falls versus dollar after Greek finance plan
- Aussie dollar stays steady while the Kiwi takes a tumble
Services PMI can go down as well as up
- Will MPC call a halt to quantitative easing?
- Will ECB wash its hands of Greece?
Good morning. Senator Cantwell in the States is campaigning for a ban on commodity trading. Speculation, she says, creates bubbles and makes things too expensive. Until the senator can come up with an alternative price-discovery mechanism for commodities she might consider directing her energies at the art market, from which the man in the street is nowadays effectively excluded. Even the most ordinary stick figure made of welding slag costs £65 million. Speculators have made it impossible for hard-working families to get a look in.
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Currency exchange update 03/02/10
- Sterling trades higher against majors – rise in UK consumer confidence
- US dollar gives up recent gains as risk aversion subsides
- Moody’s comments on US “AAA” rating—keeps outlook stable
- Spot gold hits two week high of $1,124.00 per troy ounce
- Asian stock markets close higher after following US gains on Tuesday
UK consumer confidence improves, possibly
- Construction PMI improves as well
- And so should the services PMI
Good morning. The cashier at a Tesco shop in Coventry demanded proof of a customer’s age before she would sell her a slice of cheese and onion tart. ‘We have to be really strict now,’ she said. Presumably, like everything else, it was for security reasons. Fortunately for Coventry rate-payers there was no need to call an off-duty policeman for advice. This saved them the £100 cost of the four hours overtime that police people can apparently claim for fielding a single work-related phone call in their own time. Perhaps this arrangement is something our political leaders should ponder as they argue about the best use of public money; either cut the payments or level the playing field by paying soldiers overtime if they are bombed or shot at during off-duty hours.
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Currency exchange update 02/02/10
EUR/USD falls to 7 month lows
GBP PMI survey is highest for 15 years
DJIA holds 10,000 and FTSE posts positive close
Eyes on Central Bank meetings with BOE, ECB
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Surprisingly strong UK manufacturing sector
- Opinion polls point to hung parliament
- Sterling falls
Good morning. Political economics is a funny old science. If you run a bank a million-pound salary is outrageous. If you are a shopkeeper, a footballer or a TV boss £15 million is perfectly reasonable. Slicing half a billion off university budgets is a necessary saving. Spending £5 billion on new aircraft carriers and a similar amount on ID cards is essential for security reasons. Sending thieves to prison is right and proper unless they have stolen something a government wants, such as the bank account details of people from whom they might be able to extract money.
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Currency exchange update 01/02/10
- US dollar extends gains against majors after strong GDP data on Friday
- Pound down on euro after bearish comments on economy by Osborne
- Groundhog day for cable – sterling posts another 1.5 cents loss on dollar
- Euro posts 7 month low against a rallying greenback
- ECB & BoE expected to leave interest rates unchanged this Thursday
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