In London today is of course the late summer bank holiday. In the USA it is both National Eat Outside Day and National Bacon Day and yesterday was National Toasted Marshmallow Day. These are new kinds of celebrations for most non Americans but as non historical or religious based are at least easily understood.
SGM-FX is unable to enjoy a bacon sandwich outside today ( bacon sandwich provider of choice Birleys off Fenchurch Street remains shuttered) but while hungry for the return of Birleys, SGM-FX is ready and open for business with 41 Eastcheap manned and watchful.
EUR remains strong at 1.19 versus USD and USD weaker after the initial reaction to PM Abe’s resignation news versus JPY at 105.30. GBP remains a beneficiary versus USD and EUR enjoying its best levels for two months.
South Africa: Cape Town Table Mountain
Pretty scenes of Table Mountain covered in snow on Saturday although the mountain is shut to visitors due to slippery conditions. SA Consumer Price Inflation at 4.2% warming up as restrictions on the SA economy are lifted and will soon melt that snow except maybe at the very top of Table Mountain for a few more weeks. ZAR strengthened to 16.60 versus USD its best level since June 10.
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

A return to ‘sell America?’ The combination of (geo)political risks mounting up in the US have invited episodes of ‘sell America’ in recent sessions. This is a theme that dominated early in 2025 during Trump’s upheaval of the global terms of trade via a manipulation of tariffs. ‘Sell America’ is the trading outcome characterised by […]
Sterling slides Sterling took a leg lower ahead of the European open yesterday. Despite some tentative signs of recovery, GBP was still unable to claw back losses incurred during yesterday’s session. Before we cover the cause and implications of yesterday’s stumble amongst GBP crosses, let’s look at why the Pound was set up for a […]
Powell in the spotlight The market has not taken the prospective prosecution of Fed Chair Jay Powell lightly. Before European markets had opened yesterday, Asian markets had been churning with news that the Federal Reserve Chairman was facing prosecution from the Department of Justice. That headline was seen as the latest escalation in a series […]