SGM-FX insights

Dutch Courage:   The Unilever’s back and so’s the Pound. Only months ago, the decision was announced to relocate the Unilever headquarters to the Netherlands, adding to the barrage of negative sentiment that weighed upon the Pound. However, in a surprise decision, the plan has been abandoned and a dual head-quarter arrangement will persevere. Likely […]

Unaccustomed Union:   The direction to markets today has been clear: Brexit is looking good and the Dollar’s rivals are back. With the Pound and the Euro both respectively seeing enormous bids on the back of Brexit progress, the Dollar has lost some of the traction that has made it the trade of 2018. The […]

Good Friday? Good Monday!     Mild progress has been made in the Euro this morning, extending yesterday’s late afternoon and New York session gains that the European single currency had already made. Considerable losses that had pushed the Euro to a six-week low on a trade weighted basis were initially provoked by the Italian […]

Good Friday? Good Monday!   The Conservative Party conference is well under way in Birmingham, with headline speakers yesterday including International Trade secretary, Liam Fox, and long-standing government minister, Jeremy Hunt. Markets will have to wait until tomorrow for the premier Theresa May to speak at the conference. The Pound made impressive gains yesterday upon […]

Inside the Hourglass,   Sovereign states must increasingly feel as though their countries are built upon the bedrock of the sand in a rapidly shrinking hourglass; assuming a position in an ever-collapsing pool, occasionally colliding with each other and frequently going under. Today was the turn of Euro to take a turn for the worse. […]

Stumbling Block,   In a surprising day for markets, the Euro is the major mover. Markets paid enormous interest to the Italian budgetary negotiations within their newly formed domestic coalition. With the dominating ‘League’ party, the composition of spending was almost entirely up for grabs, with secessionist sentiment surrounding the entire debacle. However, with numerous […]

The Sterling continued to extend its consolidation through the European session yesterday. Once again, the US session looked upon our domestic pressure with less sanguine eyes, succumbing to political uncertainty amidst staunch Commons conflict and even intra-party disputes. Speaking once again later today in Washington, May could provide the market with hope for the other […]

Tainted Promises,   Salzburg provided sterling markets with ultimately intraday gains in excess of 0.5%; one of Sterling’s best performances in months. The developments were great enough to push cable (GBPUSD) to close to 1.33, rolling another month’s worth of losses from the currency pair, equal to a 1.15% intraday displacement in favour of the […]

All quiet in Austria,   Following a tumultuous day yesterday, Sterling this morning has had a directional purpose, currently trading around 30 basis points stronger on a trade weighted basis since its market open. The strong buying support is being driven by anticipation of progress at the informal EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, however, with […]

Tariffs, Tariffs everywhere; but not a Dollar peak?!   $200Bn worth of goods at 10% levied against Chinese Exports to the US, including the proviso for this to raise to 25% next year, and now $60Bn worth of US exports to China will face 10% levies. Oh yeah, and the US sanctions on Iran come […]

Tariffs are so last week:   Sterling performed admirably yesterday amidst a risk-on feel. The Pound broke through important resistance barriers at 1.1250 against the Euro (EURGBP 0.888). Against the Dollar, the move was even more impressive, closing above 1.31 for the first time in one month. Across the board, Sterling hit 6-week highs yesterday, […]

Tame; Light volatility; Grab a handrail:   Yesterday’s three interest rate decisions fell into place as predicted. A tame and uneventful Bank of England rate decision saw the Pound do little more than flutter. With a 9-0 vote within the Monetary Policy Committee and interest rates being held at 75 basis points, expectations were met […]