SGM-FX insights

The British stereotype can be a confusing one. The French call us “Roast beef”, I suppose due to our affinity to the quintessentially British Sunday roast and, one would assume, partially in retaliation to being referred to as frogs. Internationally, are we not also supposed to love a good cup of tea and love a […]

GBP/EUR     For all those affected by this currency pair the tendency is to focus on GBP and its changing daily/hourly strength or weakness due to the torrid action in Westminster. As perceptions that a NoDeal is out of the picture, GBP strengthens and then as news emerges that PM May and Leader of […]

Omnishables:   Taking the acclaimed title of Oxford Dictionaries word of the Year 2012, “Omnishambles” is a word which is normally deployed in relative proximity to a photograph of the former Foreign Secretary and Vote Leave figurehead, Boris Johnson. To my mind today, it’s an appropriate one-word encapsulation of global politics. The general decay in […]

Italy   At the end of 2018, Italy agreed a budget with Brussels and that sorted things out right? Wrong. Italy has debt of EUR 3 Trillion or 3 thousand billion. According to the OECD the Italian economy will contract in 2019 and Italian debt will grow to between 2.5 and 3% of GDP in […]

Mexico   Another week, another on off threat from President Trump: this time to close the US border with Mexico. No avocadoes is the least of the problems faced by Texas and California which would be hardest hit. The aim is to stem the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants from Mexico but while it […]

Markets   Apparent good progress on US Sino Trade talks but not on US European trade with France exerting its ability to prevent talks starting with the US: a risk strategy given the tariffs that are threatened for the Euro car industry. Bitcoin is on a high for the year now above $5000. Stock markets […]

Titanic Time?   SGM-FX veteran Graham exhausted with trying to explain Brexit to his clients over the past 3 years has asked me for 3 examples of things that had taken less time to accomplish (NB accomplish….!) and here they are: Building the Titanic( 2 ¼ years) Flying the 35 million miles from Earth to […]

Ukraine and echoes of Ken Dodd   Congratulations to Presidential hopeful Volodymyr Zelensky, a professional comedian with no political experience at all, who won the first round on Sunday. Reminds me of George Carman QC who while seeking to explain to the judge in 1989 that his client Ken Dodd should be acquitted, said: “Accountants […]

On 29-03-1912…..Captain Scott, Antarctic explorer made the last entry in his diary:…”The end cannot be far..For God’s sake look after our people.” Both frustrated Bremainers and Brexiters know how that feels!     Currencies and Markets   Those impacted by the Pink Pound should give Brunei a miss: the Sultan has now made gay sex […]

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 […]