The Focus
Markets have been dominated by the geopolitical risk presented by events in Israel and neighbouring geographies. Week on week, this has meant that the best performing G-10 currency has been the Swiss Franc benefiting from a safe haven, defensive move. Despite US treasuries taking a breather from their chaotic sell off, the US Dollar has also remained relatively well bid. This is also likely down to the Dollar’s well-established if secondary role as a safe haven currency.
With a data-light calendar from the perspective of the US Dollar this week, the risk perceived by markets from current conditions could be sufficient to allow the Dollar to retrace recent highs. As we wrote yesterday, the potential for global inflationary pressures to be supported by the addition of war surrounding Israel is tangible. The United States’ energy independence and possibility to produce a net energy surplus will limit the extent to which that inflation is imported into the US. Given how fresh the events surrounding Israel are, we are still likely to experience a short-term bias towards the Dollar. This is because interest rate expectations are likely to remain stable whilst the demand for safety will increase more quickly.
The Pound has so far remained relatively stable with attention drawn to other assets as markets react to the humanitarian crises unfolding. Such events are likely to once again create downside risks to current GBP pricing. However, there is the possibility for tomorrow’s release of UK inflation data to outweigh the impact of other macroeconomic selling pressures. This morning, employment data was released showing still highly elevated but decelerating wage and employment trends within the UK. So far, GBPUSD is on the back foot ahead of tomorrow’s possible CPI lifeline.
Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter

One in three Until recently, the market had held the probability of a rate cut at the Bank of England’s November meeting at near zero. Above-target inflation and insufficient evidence of faltering economic growth alone suggested the BoE would continue to adopt a wait and see approach. Combine that with the uncertainty of the UK […]
Grinding lower The key currency pairs of GBPUSD and EURUSD continue their slow but consistent grind lower. This story is not just one of dollar strength but also a rotation away from GBP and EUR, in favour of safe havens. Under performance in global equity markets continues to be a factor behind the market’s general […]
A glimmer of (European) hope The ECB has made significant progress in cutting rates towards an accommodative level. The Eurozone saw evidence of cooling inflation much sooner than many economies and has been able to respond accordingly, cutting the deposit rate to 2%. The ECB will meet again this Thursday to publish its latest monetary […]