Sterling against the euro continues to be largely unaffected by war in the Middle East, despite it sending the oil price to $115 per barrel at the start of this week, some 40% up on a month ago.
GBP/EUR has drifted a little lower over the past week but remains close to 1% higher than at the start of the conflict.
This is despite the stock markets having fallen by around 7% in that period as businesses wrestle with rising costs, decreasing confidence and the interest rate cut that didn’t happen. Normally the pound follows stock markets, as happened in other troubles such as the pandemic (down 10%) and the Brexit vote (down 15%).
While the business news headlines are filled each day with the latest pronouncement from President Trump, the markets could go in any direction. Indeed we have already seen some strange movements over the weekend.
So if you have a significant transaction coming up, maybe a life-changing move or a long-dreamt of international property purchase, you may be unnerved to think that your budget is at the whim of the president, the Secretary of War and others.
There is a way out of that, which is to lock in your exchange rate in for the duration of your transaction. We also have products such as an order to buy, which is a kind of insurance policy in case the market shifts suddenly. Smart Currency is one of the few brokers who not only offer these services, but have your account manager at the end of the telephone, on 020 8003 4915 to discuss it all. Why not take advantage of that?
This is a short week, but there is plenty for the markets to chew over, including European inflation, UK GDP (i.e. economic growth, or lack of it) and the US jobs situation – all potential exchange rate movers.
