SGM-FX insights

Cashing in or checking out?   Controversy has been building within the Federal Reserve in recent weeks. Before a recent announcement the private financial circumstances and actions of several individual policy makers brought into question the integrity and independence of the whole monetary institution. Due to the nature of the role as a rate setter […]

Germany   As Germany goes to the polls, the realisation among voters is that whatever the outcome, the real contest will be settled as the parties divvy up their respective power bases to form the next ruling coalition-a process that is expected to take up to 3 weeks and has arithmetically 15 different permutations if […]

US Employment   Lots of statistics but broadly the direction is clear: the unemployment numbers in the US are declining despite some higher than expected figures in California. At the end of July there were a record 10.9 million job vacancies and the Federal Reserve is projecting 4.8% unemployment at year end. EUR/USD at 1.1720. […]

Three Down, three to go   After a volatile night in markets, the dust has settled to leave major currency pairs trading roughly in line with their closing value at the European close yesterday. The Federal Reserve’s decision last night saw trading ranges just shy of 1 cent prevail within major USD crosses. The market […]

EU Inflation   The ECB’s belief is that from current 3% EU inflation will rise to 3.5% by November and then drop sharply back to 2% where it will stay for “years to come.” What can go wrong? Commodity prices continue their rise, supply chain bottlenecks squeeze goods’ prices and labour shortages continue. Having undershot […]

How Many?!   In case you were getting worried about the relative calm in foreign exchange markets, you might not need to fear for much longer. With as many as six central bank meetings this week, there is the potential for a whole host of chaos to play out in the foreign exchange market. A […]

UK Christmas cancelled due to soaring gas prices?   Those who find it hard to join the price of gas to a potential Christmas cancellation need to know that gas price rises have resulted in at least 2 large fertiliser companies closing. Those companies produce Co2 as a by product precipitating a shortage of Co2. […]

London’s Tube Map   For the first time this century the tube map has been redrawn with the long awaited Northern Line extension which puts new stations Battersea and Nine Elms on the network as of 0530am on Monday. In case you are confused having over enjoyed yourselves last night and spotted the redrawn tube […]

Reshuffle   Ahead of the Conservative party conference next month, the Prime Minister has pursued a cabinet reshuffle. Whilst Boris Johnson has maintained strong support amongst his own party, divisions within his cabinet have been evident amidst rising Covid-19 cases and a taxation hike. There were several changes within major offices of state. Liz Truss […]

US Core Consumer Price Index   Those like Federal Reserve Chair Powell who doubt the risk of inflation will be heartened by yesterday’s release which showed a slowing of a rise in core CPI at only 0.1% in August after a 0.3% rise in July. Inflation is not quite over as a risk however given […]

Vax on, Vax off   The relative calm regarding Covid-19 in the northern hemisphere has allowed economies to open up and realise the potential growth stored up over months of lockdowns and socio-economic restrictions. A good part of the true or at least the attributed root of the ability to open societies and economies once […]

Video Camera Glasses   Facebook and Rayban have co-operated on the development of glasses that will enable the wearer to answer the phone, check diary, read mail and surf the net. Well that’s OK then -providing you’re not driving at the time. They will cost USD 295 or GBP215 and will be widely available next […]