SGM-FX insights

A new stability?   Four chancellors in four months. Even if you had not been paying attention to the comings and goings of UK politics, that statistic should ring alarm bells. The UK gained its fourth chancellor in as many months last week in the form of Jeremy Hunt following the ousting of Kwasi Kwarteng […]

Budget Count Down   The Chancellor has brought forward the date upon which he will announce his new budget plan. Now apparently taking a less devolved approach from his previous ‘markets will be markets’ sentiment, the change of date was justified to give some certainty with respect to fiscal policy during this period of turmoil. […]

This lady is for turning   Yesterday the government made a U-turn on some of the headline taxation policies announced during the mini budget late last month. The focus of the rollback was on the 45% additional taxation rate recently announced by the Chancellor to be on the chopping block from April next year. The […]

Tug of War   There is a rather small but welcoming green just outside of the City Hall building on the South Bank of London, just west of Tower Bridge. Many people will frequent the green for the spectacular view of the Tower of London and the City of London on the far side of […]

Another week, another level   We discussed the implied yield curve last week with a promise to take a look back at how the market pricing has evolved in subsequent trading sessions. There was particular note taken of the potential impact that the Bank of England’s decision on Thursday could provide to the market and […]

Where are UK interest rates going?   The bank holiday weekend continued to provide reason for markets to price a runaway Bank of England. Come market open on Tuesday, the positioning calling for an over-sized hike from the central bank grew, with rate expectations advancing across the curve. As well as developing interest rate expectations […]

A big week   Following this heading I should probably note that the adjectives ‘big’ and ‘good’ might perhaps be more separated in our minds by the time Friday’s market close passes. A Bank of England decision scheduled for last week was postponed whilst the country was in mourning. It is now due to take […]

Changeover   It was confirmed yesterday that Liz Truss would be the new Tory party leader and therefore Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In the end the outcome of the ballot of Conservative party members was closer than might have been expected. Rishi Sunak, Truss’ ultimate hustings challenger, achieved some ten thousand more votes […]

Inflation – good, bad and ugly rolled into one   As an avid reader of the market insight that we publish daily to your many multimedia devices, you will likely have recognised a shift in the way we have been talking about inflation. In days gone by, you would have seen Humphrey, me, and your […]

UK Rates and Sterling   UK rate expectations are likely driving much of Sterling’s spot and forward pricing. Near-term UK rates are expressing at least a high degree of correlation if not causation with GBP as the market questions what next week’s Bank of England (BoE) decision and the rest of the year will bring […]

Hydrogen Cars   Following our piece last week on hydrogen, one of our readers has asked a number of questions which others may also have wondered about. Here are the answers: there are currently only two models on sale; a Hyundai Lego and a Toyota Mirai. Both cost approximately GBP60k. There are also further models […]

Spring Budget   Having developed a name for himself as the pandemic era Chancellor, Rishi Sunak had attracted a reputation of going above and beyond to provide economic support to an ailing economy – for better or for worse will remain your decision. Policies created in the face of the pandemic, not least the landmark […]