Morning Brief – International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day

Today we wish all our readers a Happy International Women’s Day which has become a thing over the years and is now BIG and something that we are marking at SGM-FX!
GBP/USD 1.2765.

Prosperity, Security and Democracy

Those according to European People’s Party leader Ursula Von Der Leyen are the 500 million population’s priorities as she set out her stall to secure a second term as  European Commission President in the June elections. Beset with no self doubts as to her suitability for the role nor to canvas election support while fulfilling her duties as President, Ms Von Der Leyen with a current backing of 80%+ looks set for that second term.
GBP/EUR 1.1705.

Panama Canal

El Nino and a lack of rain means that Lake Gaitun that supplies the water for the Panama Canal is suffering from lower water levels. What that means is that the canal now has an average depth of 81 feet which is 5 feet less than normal. Traffic is down form an average of 36 ships passing through daily to 24. A colossal 5% of global trade uses the Panama Canal. The alternatives involve time and distance -huge amounts of both. Given the disruption with the Suez Canal, global trade is facing real challenges and costs. Those costs-transport, fuel, freight, container etc- will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.
USD/JPY 148.08.

Central Banks

What used to be called the Central Bank Reserve Asset Management Policy is back in the news ie how the world’s central banks split their holdings of cUSD 5 trillion of reserves. The main holding is of course USD of 60% with EUR 20% and the balance split between Gold, GBP and other currencies. The news is that EUR is set to increase its share which will of course spill over into its pricing. There are two reasons for this: firstly EUR interest rates are now positive and are set to increase making it a more desirable holding. Secondly in this era of de dollarisation there is pressure to diversify. The London based think tank OMFIF surveyed 75 central banks and 15 will be adding to their EUR  allocation in the next 2 years.
EUR/USD 1.0895.

Australia

The ASX200 of Australian Shares was buoyant and traded another new all time high yesterday on the back of Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s comments which are construed as being less negative than feared. Def glass half full down under.
USD/AUD 1.5143.

Just Like a Woman

This day in 1966 Bob Dylan recorded this song in Columbia’s Studio A in Nashville. The song was released in August that year and managed to climb to Number 232 in the Roling Stone Greatest 500 Songs of All Time. Useless pub quiz fact: this song was named by sometime US Presidential hopeful Al Gore as his favourite Bob Dylan song of all time. Controversial and supposed to be about Andy Warhol pin up girl Edie Sedgwick who departed this world early fueled by a cocktail of Class A drugs, the song is even better 58 years on.

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Everybody knows that baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls

She takes just like a woman
Yes, she does, she makes love just like a woman
Yes, she does, and she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

Queen Mary, she’s my friend
Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess that baby can’t be blessed
‘Til she finally sees that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine, and her pearls

She takes just like a woman
Yes, she makes love just like a woman
Yes, she does, and she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what’s worse is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here

Ain’t it clear that I just can’t fit
Yes, I believe that it’s time for us to quit
But when we meet again, introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world

Ah, you fake just like a woman
Yes, you do, you make love just like a woman
Yes, you do, then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl…

Have a Great Weekend!

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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