Exchange Rate Forecasts

Sterling gained versus a generally weaker dollar Friday as traders continued to mull the previous sessions stronger than expected UK retail sales data. Numbers released Thursday revealed retail sales jumped 0.8% in January, reversing the previous months 0.4% decline and trumping expectations for a 0.3% recovery. Experts reckon the data means the Bank of England [...]

The Pound bounced back against the majors yesterday as the UK currency rallied 0.4%higher versus the Dollar following reports that UK retail sales rose more than twice as much in January. The Office of National Statistics said that sales climbed 0.8% from December despite forecasts of a smaller 0.2% gain and that represents the largest [...]

The recent negative sentiment surrounding the Pound continued yesterday as the UK currency plunged to within 50 pips of the 12 month low versus the Dollar and also paired losses against the resurgent Euro following the surprisingly dovish minutes from the Bank of England’s last policy meeting. The nine-member monetary policy committee voted 8-1 in [...]

The fallout from the Northern Rock fiasco continued to weigh on Sterling sentiment yesterday as news of the nationalisation of the lender seriously undermines the credibility of the UK government and the short-term implications on the market may drive the Pound even lower. Nevertheless, the focus this morning will fall on the release of the [...]

The Pound declined against all but one of the 16 most actively traded currencies yesterday as the market reacted to news that the UK government plans to nationalise Northern Rock Plc and take control of the struggling lender amid the continued instability in the UK financial sector. Gordon Brown’s decision received widespread criticism yesterday and [...]

Following on from last week, the Pound recorded its first weekly advance against the Dollar since mid January as a hawkish quarterly inflation report and surprisingly positive economic data may prevent the Bank of England from cutting UK interest rates too aggressively over the coming months. Following reports that consumer prices had risen to the [...]

The Pound has rallied strongly against the majors over the past week, rising back towards 1.9700 versus the Dollar amid a plethora of positive economic reports and a surprisingly hawkish quarterly inflation report. Consumer prices have risen to the highest level in seven months while the UK unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since [...]

The Pound declined against 12 of the 16 most actively traded currencies in early trade yesterday after a report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed that January was the worst for the British housing market since the months that followed the last recession in 1992. Recent evidence has portrayed an un-denying slump in [...]

The Pound has rallied strongly against the majors this week as UK producer price inflation increased at the fastest pace in 16-years in the month of January and provided some optimism that the Bank of England will need to focus on inflation and adopt a neutral stance on monetary policy. However, the Pound struggled to [...]

The Pound reversed much of its earlier losses against the Dollar yesterday and bounced back above 1.3400 versus the Euro as a government report showed that UK factories raised prices at the fastest annual pace since 1991. Producer prices for goods ranging from textiles to chemicals rose an alarming 5.7% from this stage in 2007 [...]