It’s been a week where good news has broken out all over, boosting sterling to its strongest point against the USA dollar since early summer and against the euro since late summer.
The positive economic news hasn’t necessarily been from the UK. Inflation is below expectations in most of the major eurozone economies – Italy excepted – and this morning we’ve seen the largest monthly fall in Spanish unemployment for 15 years. A host of indicators have been positive (and some negative) for the US economy too, including GDP rising above expectations at 2.9%.
It all paints a picture where the European Central Bank (ECB) and US Federal Reserve can consider taking their foot off the accelerator on interest rate rises, with 50 basis point raises now expected from both the Fed and ECB later this month.
It was largely comments from the Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell on Wednesday evening that led to a growing appetite for risk and boosted sterling yesterday.
Elsewhere in the business news, there are concerns over the commercial real estate sector, with Blackstone limiting withdrawals from its real estate investment funds, and academics calculating that $50bn has been knocked off New York office values.
Gas prices in Europe have risen sharply just as the cold weather starts.
In the UK, good news for some as house prices fell 1.4% in November, according to the Nationwide, knocking £4,500 off the average property value.
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