SGM-FX insights

Starship Enterprise     William Shatner or Captain Kirk of Star Trek has turned 88 and the UK Parliament were last night looking to him to lead them to boldly go where no man has gone before-i.e. conclusion of Brexit. Nearer to Planet earth, but only just, was the following exchange in the European Parliament […]

France and President Macron   Some headline numbers: Public spending is 57% of GDP. 35 hour working week. 1.1 million civil servants of which 310,000 work less than those 35 hours. In Brittany civil servants are allowed 6 days off per annum to attend…car boot sales, in Deux Sevres, council workers get 10.5 weeks per […]

Australia   Numbers have dropped markedly for Brits emigrating to Australia down from an average of 49,000 a year to 30,000 -which is still approximately twice the number emigrating to Spain each year. Despite the AUD being weaker, this is blamed on GBP having weakened versus AUD from 2.50 to 1.85 and the Oz housing […]

La Belle France:   It may be a long time ago, but it just goes to show that at the time of (the last real as opposed to Le Petit Emanuel) Napoleon, some good sense did come from France: Burgundy makes you think of foolish things, Bordeaux makes you talk about them and Champagne makes […]

Président Charles de Gaulle: Hard cheese.   Was he right? He blocked the UK’s first attempt to join the European Community in 1963. “Too maritime, too insular, too original in its traditions and too tied to its distant markets to become good Europeans.” Just to remind you he also explained his own domestic difficulties as […]

Viva Espana   Despite having one of the largest EU unemployment numbers at 3.3million, Spain is continuing to post the highest growth rate in the EU at 2.5%. Next year Spanish growth is forecast to be 2.2% far ahead of the rest of the other largest countries -France, Germany and Italy in the Eurozone. Ole […]

Global Markets   Commodities: Gold at $1318, WTI Oil at $59.83, Both up more than 1% Currencies: GBP weaker following the PM writing to Eurozone applying for an extension yesterday. A rally in GBP only likely if the PM gets her deal through; right now with the PM’s late night speech, a NoDeal is back […]

Global Markets   Commodities: Gold at $1305, WTI Oil at $58.97, Palladium through $1600 for the first time. Currencies: Swedish Krona weakness unnerving markets. Indian Rupee gone from worst to best performing currency. GBP while weaker following Westminster’s events yesterday, is attracting increasing interest and more expectation of a rally. USD weaker versus EUR. Equities: […]

Eurostar   If there are any Remainers out there who are trying to take Eurostar this week: in the event that there is R2 or a second referendum (unlikely in our view) my hunch is that they will vote Leave this time!  Apart from wanting more money(so?) French customs officers are striking to “demonstrate the […]

Et tu Brute?!   Friday of last weekend was the day 2062 years ago in 44BC that Julius Caesar was murdered by a conspiracy of senators. Theresa May must have heaved a sigh of relief that she survived Friday and no doubt was thinking that a modern day JC opposite her deserved the same fate! […]

Indian Elections   One of the great logistical exercises globally is due to start on April 11: 900M Indian voters will head to the polls to elect 545 candidates over 9 separate voting days depending on location with the last day of voting on 19-05-19. Counting starts on 23-05-19 and will take 3 days. The […]

Italy: Chinese Checkers?   China is taking advantage of weakness in the Italian economy to increase its influence and strengthen ties between the two nations. China is keen to gain ownership of Italian ports such as Genoa to give them access to the Northern European markets by road from the Italian port. Italy is the […]