Over the course of yesterday morning’s trading, with Theresa May and her cabinet locked away in a meeting room in Number 10 to discuss the next steps for Brexit, the pound weakened against the dollar, only to recover some of its’s losses in the afternoon.
Currency Pair | % Change in 1 month | Difference on £200,000 | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | 2.8% | $7,600 |
One of the main drivers behind this movement is most likely down to the current cloud of uncertainty hanging over the UK political climate, but Durable Goods orders for the US yesterday showed a positive increase in March, giving a boost to the economy and therefore the dollar. This is usually a good barometer of the health of the US economy, given that these orders are typically of high investment on goods that are designed to last for at least 3 years such as cars etc.
One of the main drivers behind this movement is most likely down to the current cloud of uncertainty hanging over the UK political climate, but Durable Goods orders for the US yesterday showed a positive increase in March, giving a boost to the economy and therefore the dollar. This is usually a good barometer of the health of the US economy, given that these orders are typically of high investment on goods that are designed to last for at least 3 years such as cars etc.
A busy week for data from the US will be capped off on Friday with Non-farm payrolls data, which has historically had the potential to create volatile swings in the dollar’s value due to the difficulty of predicting these numbers in advance.
One topic that won’t leave the headlines is the ongoing trade impasse between the US and China, and yesterday a Chief Economist at credit ratings agency, Moody’s, warned that if the US and China don’t come to a trade agreement in the next three months that it is ‘highly likely’ there will be a global recession.
His predictions are based on the impact this is having on business sentiment, arguing that confidence among businesses is at its lowest since the 2008 crash. US and Chinese officials are due to meet in Washington this week to attempt to make further progress on their negotiations, so it is worth keeping an eye on news as it unfolds to stay up to speed with how the currency markets are affected.
Keep in contact with your account manager on Friday to stay abreast of all the latest market news, to help you make a decision on when might be the right time for you to transfer your currency.