The currency blog

A very good morning for Sterling this morning as the pound hits a one month high against the euro to 1.1268 and it is also up to 1.5150 against the USD. The reason for the move higher has been attributed to the upward revision in 2009 Q4 GDP to 0.4% from 0.3%. However I feel there is a certain amount of profit taking after the dumping of sterling in the last few weeks- the FT highlighted that hedge funds were shorting sterling and we are now probably seeing profit taking from this leading to a squeeze higher.
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Check out the total on the co-operative wall below!!

£5227 - we have broken the £5k barrier. Well done to everyone for their contributions during March. We had a fun time, with the usual Dress Down Fridays and we also held a sweep for the first Formula 1 race of the season!

All these added together to raise the healthy sum of £260.55 for the month of March. And this is how the money is split between the 3 charities:

Help a London Child - £113.09
Epilepsy Research - £64.68
Born Free Foundation - £82.78

So, the Easter bunnies are on the hop and we have a Dress Down Thursday to look forward to this week as well as lots of new activities. The charities we will be supporting over April are:

Diabetes UK
Stepping Stones Nigeria
Honeypot

As always, click back here for regular updates on the additional fundraising activies that we get up to!

Thank you for reading

The Greeks attempted to take advantage of the perceived improvement in the fiscal position by tapping the debt market for a 7-year issue, managing to sell sufficient to satisfy their April requirement but only achieving a 1.2 times cover ratio despite paying slightly above expectations. The gains seen in the Euro since Friday’s EC Summit agreement appear overdone now and with Eurozone economic recovery looking still very much 2-speed, the downside for the currency does look more attractive.
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Last week the big news was the agreement of a Franco-German proposal involving the IMF to assist Greece has lifted the euro in the short term, but is unlikely to be good news for the currency in the longer term. Although the bailout was welcomed by the financial markets, the news of the IMF’s involvement was not good for the euro. What we are seeing at the moment is a relief rally, with the euro being bought on the fact that a proposal has finally been agreed, rather than on the specific details it contains. The financial aid proposed is limited by the need for unanimous decisions by euro member states, on the basis of assessments carried out by the European commission and the European Central Bank. This means the financial markets will remain cautious about the euros prospects until they see evidence of the system working in practice.
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Finally we have an official deal on Greece so surely we have seen a surge of confidence in the markets and a rally in the euro….err not quite. The package will be for about Euro 30 billion with about 1/3rd coming from the IMF and the rest in the form of bilateral loans from the other 15 Euro zone members. Although the euro has bounced higher it has so far been a deflated bounce up against the USD from 1.3270 last night to 1.3385. The agreement was welcomed after weeks of debate and wrangling, however news of IMF involvement was not considered good news for the euro especially after ECB President Trichet commented that IMF involvement would be “very, very bad”. Greece will be aided on a fall back basis in the event that Greece cannot get suitable financing from the markets; however for assistance to be ratified it will require a unanimous decision from EU members after strong conditions have been met. Thus we still have the potential for red tape and dispute when Greece would need direct assistance- this uncertainty could yet serve to undermine the euro further.
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A largely political budget failed to rattle the financial markets and the pound was unmoved on the back of the budget- although it did slip against the USD due to other factors. It was announced that there would be a reduction in the government borrowing requirements but it was not enough to shift sterling especially as no clarity was divulged on how exactly the deficit would be reduced. Sterling did slip against the USD following jittery trading on the downgrade of Portugal and the ongoing back and forth with Greece and the EU which led to USD buying. This morning the pound has staged a recovery following much better than expected retail sales data from the UK at +2.1% month on month; currently we sit at 1.4950 on the USD and 1.12 against the euro.
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