Sterling reached a new high against USD overnight. Indeed, apart from a brief period in early 2018 this is the strongest it has been since before the referendum in 2016, which knocked at least 10% of its strength for much of the subsequent four and a half years.
Could this strength all be due to the relatively “thin” Brexit deal six weeks ago, or is it just coincidence, or entirely vaccine related?
Against the euro a look at the 5-year graph, which you can see at our live rates page, shows that GBP/EUR – against most expectations – is drifting upwards towards levels rarely seen since before Article 50 was signed in March 2017.
Sterling was stronger against the euro in the immediate pre-Covid period, so could it be a coincidence that we are getting back to those levels as the UK economy looks forward to opening earlier than Europe’s?
You can spend too long looking at currency graphs and trying to work out what is happening!
The truth is that the market moves in a mysterious way and it is impossible to predict accurately – as shown so clearly by the major bank’s woefully inaccurate predictions for sterling this month, some of which were as low as €1.06.
Our suggestion is always that you focus on your own plans and put measures in place to guarantee that your budget will be big enough to achieve them.
Our traders – who really do enjoy poring over currency graphs and will talk all day about it given half a chance – are at the end of the telephone on 020 8108 5337, ready to put in place a currency strategy specifically for you.
Do give them a call.
