The US dollar has continued to strengthen as a result of impressive economic data but also due to concerns of a global slowdown. The greenback remains a safe haven currency, so in times of global uncertainty it’s not unusual to see the dollar strengthen as we are currently.
Currency Pair | % Change (Month) | Difference on £200,000 | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | 2.27% | $5,854 |
In the euro section of this report I covered how the US dollar has hit an almost 2-year high verses the euro, and the cable rate (GBPUSD) has now pushed below 1.30 after seeing support at this benchmark level for some time.
Yesterday afternoon the greenback was given a boost as new orders for US made goods increased to their greatest amount in the last 8-months, which is a positive sign for the economy moving forward. This has also eased concerns of a slowdown, after some weaker figures were released out of the US recently such as February’s surprisingly low non-farm payroll figures.
Many market commentators had expected to see the US dollar drop in value throughout 2019, after the Federal Reserve Bank has outlined a far less aggressive monetary policy plan through 2019 compared to both last year, and previous suggestions.
Economists are now outlining rate cuts from the Fed before 2021, with a third of economists polled by Reuters expecting cuts before then. At this stage the talk of cuts isn’t impacting US dollar rates, but they are something for US dollar sellers to be aware of.
Later today there will be Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released for the first quarter of this year with expectations of 2.1% annualised. I would expect any deviations from this much anticipated release to impact US dollar rates so feel free to touch base with us if you wish to plan around this release.