Covid second wave continues to threaten

The second coronavirus wave is continuing to sweep across Europe as youngsters in particular drop social distancing in the tourist resorts. In Italy, the government says that nightlife could be stopped at 6pm, while German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of more...


read more

Pound starts weaker, but could be a bumpy week

It could be a volatile week for sterling. After the excitement of Friday, the pound starts the week around 0.5% lower today than early Friday. Sterling had been enjoying a positive week for economic data, but this was scuppered by a disappointing update from the...


read more

Policy signals dominate the week

There’s a week of politics and policymakers ahead of us, with important signals as to the future of monetary policy at the Jackson Hole symposium, the “return to normality” from Covid, Trump’s potential second term and of course, Brexit. Last week ended with a small...


read more

Dollar regains safe-haven appeal

The dollar was slightly stronger yesterday as its safe-haven appeal came into play again. This was a result of meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve, which expressed worries over the US economy, and jobless claims data. Weekly US jobless claims on Thursday once...


read more

Officials uncertain about outlook

Minutes from the ECB’s latest monetary policy meeting were released yesterday. The word ‘uncertainty’ appeared 20 times, which probably sums up the outlook for most central banks at the moment. There were no huge revelations, but officials were keen to distinguish...


read more