SGM-FX insights

Surviving the minutes   The US Dollar has so far survived the release of the meeting minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision. As we have discussed recently, the million Pound question in markets at the moment is when will the Federal Reserve and other key central banks reach the peak point of […]

China Rate Cut   Yesterday Charles Porter wrote about how China is bucking the trend and cutting rather than raising rates. Before your eyes glaze over at the prospect of further China comment from us at SGM-FX and you look away, this is why the PBC or Peoples Bank of China cutting the medium term […]

Wrong direction   Virtually the entire world is hiking interest rates in a bid to combat inflation in their economies. If you plot the action of central banks so far this year on a world map two areas stand out as exceptions. A handful of countries in central Africa who have either held constant or […]

Next UK Prime Minister.   While we really tried hard not to write about the contest gripping(?) Britain, this particular survey out last night was just too good to pass up with Liz Truss well ahead of her rival with a 22 point lead: the Conservative Party-and it is them who get to decide-when asked […]

Fizz with Liz   Among the plethora of vague and less vague but scarcely deliverable vote catching statements is the one from Liz Truss, leading Conservative candidate in the UK Prime Minister stakes, that promises to look at the role of the Bank of England; the market while somewhat mentally on a sunbed in the […]

CPI rollercoaster   Pointing out the heightened sensitivity of markets to data recently was if anything an understatement. Yesterday, prices fluctuated wildly following the release of inflation data in the United States. By way of an early reminder, similarly salient data is due out in the UK later this week and early next. Inflation data […]

UK Retail Sales   Up 2.3% in July breaking the previous 3 month down trend due to purchases of summer clothes, picnic equipment and electric fans to cool consumers down. The last category could usefully be directed towards inflation which now stands at 9.4%. GBP/USD 1.2110.   Spain   As some of our readers will […]

Silver lining   With the US Dollar seemingly incapable of doing anything wrong almost any currency (bar Russian Ruble of course) can seem to shine when compared to its traditional benchmark, the greenback. Amidst the currencies struggling with the surging value of the US Dollar there is still considerable displacement creating winners and losers in […]

USA   Reading some reports over the weekend one could be forgiven for thinking that the administering by the Federal Reserve of stronger economic medicine than say that of the BoE or the ECB, has had the desired effect and it’s a case of job done in the US. Far be it for us to […]

Bank of England   With the 0.50% increase in rates yesterday it would seem to some people that the BoE was steering a prudent and middle course- especially the Monetary Policy Committee who were the ones who took that decision.   The problem is that these are not normal times and the BoE having assured […]

Back and forth Fed   There had seemed to be the start of a strong and highly Dollar-destructive development in markets afoot in the past week or so. Because the Fed had been so late to adjust monetary policy to evidence of rising inflation, we had ended up in an episode where almost every day […]

Oil   With NYMEX WTI at $94.24, the 13 members of OPEC meet today to talk about the price and whether they can pump more oil. Both questions are of keen interest to the Western world in general and the motorist in particular. “Cheap” unleaded in the UK now stands at GBP1.75 per litre which […]