Sterling has had a relatively stable week so far against the US dollar and a gentle rise and fall against the euro.
That could change with the Budget today, although the markets are not anticipating anything very dramatic from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today. Certainly not like the autumn’s mini-Budget.
Even so, the markets have been known to take fright about something no-one had anticipated. So if you have a major transaction coming up – one you are committed to such as for a house purchase abroad – it would be prudent to give your trader a call on 020 7898 0541 and lock in your rate.
The generally positive news on the UK’s business outlook has helped keep sterling well above the kind of levels we’d become used to post-Brexit, even after the long-standing ‘vaccine boost’ has worked through. With productivity and economic growth so low, however, sterling’s current strength is highly unstable and at risk.
Yesterday’s employment data was encouraging, with a fall in jobless numbers just when, supposedly not unadjacent to a recession, you would think it might be rising. Average earnings are still well below inflation, which partially explains why half of public services seem to be on strike today.
I received the S&P Global Accenture UK Business Outlook Report earlier this week, as a panel member for their PMI reports, and the report was broadly in line with our own experience at Smart Group. S&P’s report showed that the UK’s confidence index had bounced up to +43%, from +18% in October, and compared to just +23% in Europe.
I am delighted to say that Smart Group has gone from strength to strength in the past couple of years, as our new business report shows. Please feel free to read Smart Group’s annual report here and thank you for being part of our growth. It shows, I believe, that service still has a place in financial services.
