The Kiwi or NZD has strengthened sharply in the past two weeks versus GBP. It was only at the beginning of April that it was trading at 2.10 and now has broken its previous resistance a 1.95 and has broken through to 1.93. GBP has of course weakened across the board but the commodity currencies including now the almost COVID free NZD have bounced back sharply from the dog days of a few weeks ago.
Chanel the flagship fashion brand has announced that it expects the impact of COVID to last for 2 years in the sector. However, because they can, and to protect their brand Chanel has also increased the prices of many of their sought after products citing higher costs of raw materials. So the price of that handbag you might have had your eye on has likely been increased by at least 10%. Chanel had 2019 revenues of $12.3 Billion and a healthy operating margin so can well afford to weather the storm raging through the luxury brand market.
Today 19th June as almost nobody knows is that day. Established in 1979 at the Grand Hotel Mackinac Island in Michigan USA in response to the then new fashion of jogging, sauntering or rather the art(?) of walking in a relaxed fashion is supposed to get us all to slow down and enjoy life. SGM-FX sauntering specialist Euan was seen trying out by throwing some slooow shapes along a near deserted Eastcheap during his lunch hour yesterday, his first day back in the office since 20 March.
Have a great sunny and healthy weekend!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
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