SGM-FX insights

European Government Bond Yields   Which is the only Eurozone country that does not expect bond buyers to pay them to lend for 5 years? The answer is Italy which pays just 0.04%. Even Greece charges 0.01% to bond investors to lend them for 5 years. The European Central Bank has convinced markets that the […]

What’s another month?   Since the latest lockdown began to contain Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations, the market has kept a close eye on the route out of the lockdown. It could have been presumed therefore that the rising rhetoric against the latest and most final step out of the social and economic restrictions could call […]

Global Shipping   The disruption caused by the pandemic and also the Suez Canal blockage 2 months ago continues with Guandong Province in China seeing a fraction of the throughput of goods that would be normal. The Yantian International Container Terminal is just one of the ports that is affected with goods queued and early signs […]

Record Books being dusted off in the UK Statisticians and practitioners of the dismal science known as economics put their slide rules aside yesterday and came up with the following from the UK record books: April saw an increase in economic output of 27.6% from April 2020; last month saw the Bank Of England raise […]

Record Books being dusted off in the UK   Statisticians and practitioners of the dismal science known as economics put their slide rules aside yesterday and came up with the following from the UK record books: April saw an increase in economic output of 27.6% from April 2020; last month saw the Bank Of England […]

G7   Having watched Macron receive a slap to the face already this week I’m sure many of the G7 leaders were cautious of receiving theirs (metaphorically or physically) as the summit gets underway this week. Thus far, we have seen headlines that G7 leaders are drawing up plans to collectively provide a billion vaccines […]

US Dollar and markets   The dollar enjoyed a stronger session yesterday with world stock markets at almost record highs and volatility indices offering reassurance of a lack of volatility. GBP was under pressure as the UK government began the process of managing expectations for a delay in the lifting of LockDown. With both the […]

Bullseye   It was apparent recently that the Rand had managed to duck and dive between two huge risks to emerge relatively unscathed. When inflation statistics and an interest rate decision passed on two consecutive days accompanied by only mild and measured market fluctuations not dissimilar to a normal day’s trading, it appeared that both […]

UK Job Market   With the fastest hiring rate for 23 years and job vacancies advertised at the highest rate for 3 years, market watchers might draw all sorts of conclusions, but before they do, they should remember where we started from at the low point of the pandemic and lock down one. It’s not […]

UK House Prices   With house prices reported as being up by an annual 10.9% and enjoying the fastest growth for 7 years with a month on month increase of 1.8% in May, what could possibly go wrong? While those in the South might be surprised that the average house price in the UK is […]

June 21   The UK’s ability to stick to its intended path out of the most recent lockdown has provided GBP with support. Had the UK missed those dates set forward in the roadmap out of the pandemic, Sterling crosses would be unlikely to be where they are today. The government’s ability to stick to […]

Framing   The Rand’s appreciation over the past few months has been significant. Against a strong and still rising GBP, ZAR is one of only a small handful of currencies that has gained ground versus the Pound so far this year. One of the major risks that could have abated further Rand strength presented itself […]