SGM-FX insights

Emperor’s new clothes   In the Euro area, inflation is running close to 5%. With the spread of Covid and it’s many variants of concern, largely dominated by Omicron at present, visible in close neighbours including the UK and Denmark, the EA is braced for comparable health concerns to hit its borders. The ECB is […]

Twenty Years of Strength   When the Euro came into physical existence in 2002, one Euro would have bought you a little under 1.5 Francs. That was already ten cents less than what a Euro-in-principle would have purchased you in 1999 when the Euro was conceived electronically but still limited to financial markets and select […]

The Paradox of Intervention   The US Dollar is on the rise. Of the 22 EURUSD trading sessions in September, 15 saw the US Dollar gain ground on the Euro. Overall, last month, the aggregate price move was approximately 2% in the favour of the greenback versus the Euro. In itself, the changing valuation of […]

US Federal Reserve   “Substantial further progress” may sound like an end of term report card for a struggling pupil but that was as far as Fed Chairman Powell went with his prognosis for the US economy but restricted that view to the economy only meeting the criteria for inflation but not for labour. That […]

Data vs Data   Markets had placed their bets on a low volatility summer period and so far at least, across the broader market this has largely been delivered. Key FX pairs have stayed within recent ranges and channels with volatility still realising below or in line with the record low implied volatility that markets […]

Euro Interest Rates and the ECB   Interest rates lower for longer to boost inflation and fears expressed about the impact of Covid on the Eurozone economy: no change there. Amid all the usual dry ECB delivery is the deathless phrase where the ECB commits to deliver “a persistently accommodative monetary policy” which President Lagarde […]

ECB: From Nothing to (Maybe) Something   For most of this year, you could have bet that the July ECB meeting would not be anything to either get excited about nor a meeting to expect any currency-moving impacts from. In fact, markets put their money where the mouth was, pricing volatility at extraordinarily low levels […]

Europe‘s third wave   Rising infection rates across much of Europe have been leading to souring fortune for the Euro with the world’s most liquid currency pair EURUSD providing a good snapshot of the rising Eurozone concerns over the past weeks and months. Announcements of lockdown impositions across Europe have spilled out like clockwork with […]

CHF   By the standards of the Swiss Franc, crosses including EURCHF, GBPCHF, and USDCHF are moving alarmingly fast. The sell off the in Franc is not necessarily bad news for either the aggregate Swiss population nor the rest of the world. Alongside the push towards normalisation in real economies and markets alike, the still […]

From President to Prime Minister   After passing on the ECB’s Presidency following eight full years in office, Mario Draghi was set to retire. However, yesterday Super Mario accepted the mandate offered by Italy’s Prime Minister Sergio Mattarella to form a new technocratic government. This follows the resignation of Giuseppe Conte in response to the […]

Hokey Cokey   The public handling so far of challenges to the EU’s vaccination program have been little short of disastrous. Tensions and criticisms have built within and outside of the European Union with accusations of protectionism and foul play levied towards the European Commission in particular. The challenge to the bloc flies directly in […]

Con-te Partiro   Towards the end of yesterday’s European close there was a correction in risk appetite that saw the US Dollar appreciate against the Euro and commodity currencies. The sharp move that was precipitated by little fundamental adjustments or news headlines highlights the still fragile sentiment in global markets, particularly within the Eurozone. As […]