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 annum holiday plus 2 extra days to compensate them for working in winter. President Macron is seeking to insist on the 35 hour work for everyone. By law employers have to compensate workers who work more than 35 hours by between 10 and 50% additional salary. SGM-FX South Africa specialist Richard thought these amounts of hours and holiday were right up his strasse until he found out that Deux Sevres was quite a way away from his braai pit in Putney. Dream on Rich!
Markets marooned with little overnight net movement: Oil slightly lower, Asian stock markets a little lower on the back of Japan selling off for the first time this year. Turkish interest rates rose to over 1000%(not a typo) to prevent banks selling the Lira. For seasoned Turkish traders, this is a regular phenomenon and they will already know that Turkey is convulsed pretty much every 5 years-this time in the lead up to the election and questions on President Erdogan. Meanwhile do not be short Lira unless you have s strong stomach and…deep pockets!
Beverley Knight, soul singer 46 last week who we remember for her 2002 hit
Shoulda Woulda Coulda
No doubt about it, the UK Parliament will have been humming that tune as they embarked on the “Indicative Voting” rounds last night. MPs should most definitely remember the map of the Leave Remain Referendum Result from 2016 if they decide to ignore the electorate.
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Quarter End For those markets, including the UK, which will be observing Good Friday, today will be the last trading session of both March and Q1 2024. This means that we should expect today to mark the final day of any major FX position adjustment. The end of a month, quarter or year brings with […]
EU Border Controls 26,000 respondents in 18 jurisdictions have spoken and 51% of them are dissatisfied with border controls and the level of immigration into the EU. Now that is a statistic that political parties across the EU should sit up and take notice of in the next two months in the lead up to […]
A 1.08 floor? As we wrote yesterday, a surprise interest rate cut in Switzerland from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has jolted markets into life. Over the last month, the probability of interest rate cuts at major central banks has been falling consistently. This surprise cut from the SNB last week has awoken investors to […]