Current Exchange Rates
|
Currency |
Current Rate |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPUSD |
1.5295 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPEUR |
1.1332 |
|
|
|
||
|
EURUSD |
1.3495 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPJPY |
136.63 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPCHF |
1.6587 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPAUD |
1.7174 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPCAD |
1.6124 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPNZD |
2.2114 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPSGD |
2.156 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPHKD |
11.873 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPCZK |
29.335 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPPLN |
4.5222 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPSEK |
11.0348 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPDKK |
8.4361 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPNOK |
9.1102 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPTHB |
50.54 |
|
|
|
||
|
GBPZAR |
11.9280 |
|
|
|
*These are indicative rates only, based on interbank prices at the time of writing. For exact rates please call our dealing team on +44 (0)1375 489 480
Market Overview
Australia showed continued signs of growth as their conference board leading index rose by 0.6% in December following a drop of 0.3% in the previous month. 4th quarter private capital expenditure as saw gains of with a 5.5% increase which beat analyst expectations of a 2% growth.
Europe saw some goods news amongst the dire German GDP data that befell it yesterday morning. The glimmer of hope was that new industrial orders for the month of December had grown within the whole Euro-zone by 0.8% when analysts had predicted that it would contract by 1.0%. The annualized figures also showed industrial growth with 9.5% increase in new orders, exceeding analyst expectations of 7.6% growth.
The US didn’t fair well as mortgage applications for the week ending on the 19th February fell by a whopping 8.5%. The previous week had seen a much smaller contraction of 2.1% in applications. New home sales also fell substantially in January, making this the third consecutive fall in new home sales and reaching a record low. The report stated that sales of new homes fell 11.2% to an annual rate of 309,000 in January from the revised December rate of 348,000. New home sales were expected to rise to 354,000 from the original 342,000 sales that were reported in December.
This morning’s economic calendar opened with French consumer confidence for February. The report showed that confidence fell to -33 after January had seen an index of -29. Economists had predicted a reading of -28. Accompanying the confidence indicator was French Producer Prices which in the month of January rose by 0.7% when in the previous month it had only seen a revised 0.1% growth. The annualized data has seen prices increase by 0.4% after the previous report had shown prices to have contract by 2.9%. The consensus had been for prices to increase by 0.1%.
Italy’s business confidence indicator showed that business sentiment in February fell by 0.8 points from January’s score of 83.2 to see a reading of 84.0. Economic analysts had predicted the index to read 83.6. An increase in consumer confidence is beneficial to the value of the Euro.
Germany saw unemployment increase by 7,000 in February when January had seen a smaller increase in unemployment of 5,000 job losses. The consensus had been for unemployment to increase by 16,000. The seasonally adjusted German unemployment rate came out as expected with an 8.2% increase in the number of unemployed.
Europe’s M3 money supply fell by 0.1% on the 3 month average after it fell by 0.1% in the previous report and kept in line with the consensus figure of a 0.1% decline. The annualized data saw an increase of 0.1% when economists had expected it to remain unchanged. Previously the money supply had fallen by 0.3%.
The UK’s contribution to today’s economic calendar will be the Total Business Investment report for the fourth quarter. The quarter by quarter data is expected to show business investment grow by a mild 1.0% when it had fallen in the previous quarter by 0.6%. Annually business investment is expected to decline at a slightly slower pace with 18.5% contraction compared to the previous reports fall of 19.9%.
The European calendar carries on at 10:00 GMT with February's Euro-zone business climate indicator. The indicator is set to improve marginally from January's figure of -1.12 to -1.05. Continually poor readings show an unfavourable or worsening economy. Industrial confidence for Europe is expected to improve by 1 point from January’s index of -14 to see -13 in February. The consensus on Europe’s consumer confidence is sentiment to hold at -17 and services confidence is also expected to hold at its previous level of -1.
The highlight of the US calendar will be January’s durable goods orders. These are expected to increase by 1.4% up from December’s mild increase of 0.3%. Durable orders exclusive of transportation (i.e. vehicle purchases) are predicted to see a slower pace of increase with 1.1% growth from the 1.4% growth that was seen in December. An increase in durable orders will see the Dollar strengthen as durables such as fridge freezers, car purchases etc. are typically expensive and show the consumers feel financial secure enough to handle such costs.
Following on from durable orders the US will see weekly jobless claims data announced. Initial claims are expected to fall from 473,000 to 465,000 in the week of 20th February. The previous report on continuing claims saw this figure hit 4,563,000 and should the 13th February’s data show an increase in claims then expect this to have negative impact on the Dollar’s value. Lastly the US house price index for November saw the index rise by 0.7% month-on-month and the quarterly index saw the 3rd quarter index rise by 0.2%. No expectations have been given for December and the 4th quarter but an increase in the index would be beneficial to the Dollar.
Data Releases
|
DAY |
TIME |
CURRENCY |
EVENT |
|
|
|
||||
|
THU |
10:00 |
EUR |
Euro-Zone Economic Confidence (FEB) |
|
|
THU |
10:00 |
EUR |
Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence (FEB F) |
|
|
THU |
10:00 |
EUR |
Euro-Zone Business Climate Indicator (FEB) |
|
|
THU |
10:00 |
EUR |
Euro-Zone Industrial Confidence (FEB) |
|
|
THU |
10:00 |
EUR |
Euro-Zone Services Confidence (FEB) |
|
|
THU |
11:00 |
GBP |
U.K. CBI Distributive Trades (FEB) |
|
|
THU |
13:30 |
USD |
Durable Goods Orders (JAN) |
|
|
THU |
13:30 |
USD |
Durables Ex Transportation (JAN) |
|
|
THU |
13:30 |
USD |
Initial Jobless Claims (FEB 20) |
|
|
THU |
13:30 |
USD |
Continuing Claims (FEB 13) |
|
|
THU |
13:35 |
USD |
Fed's Pianalto Speaks at Cleveland Chamber Breakfast |
|
|
THU |
14:00 |
USD |
Bernanke Gives Monetary Policy Report Before Senate Panel |
|
|
THU |
15:00 |
USD |
House Price Index (MoM) (DEC) |
|
|
THU |
15:00 |
USD |
House Price Purchase Index (QoQ) (4Q) |
|
|
THU |
18:15 |
USD |
Bullard to Speak on U.S. Outlook at Texas A&M-Texarkana |
|
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