After a relatively rough week on the market, Sterling exchange rates got a boost following better than expected retail sales figures out of the UK- with food and fuel sales both higher than the previous month. Many were looking for spending to collapse amidst the current cost of living crisis in the UK, in my opinion, if this is something we are going to see, then this will happen later down the road- for now, spending should stay relatively high, especially into and through Summer so I am not expecting bad retail sales numbers moving forward.
As we are now approaching the last full week of the month; we only have a few select data releases that we expect to be market moving; On Tuesday we have Flash PMI’s for the UK- all expected lower than last month, but still over 50- I don’t expect this to have a massive impact on the markets given it only being flash PMI.
On Wednesday we have GDP figures for Germany alongside consumer confidence- all expected to be slightly better than last quarter which should give the Euro a little boost, this will be followed by a speech from ECB President Lagarde- the big topic at the moment is when the ECB will look to raise interest rates, so this speech could affect GBPEUR and EURUSD prices if we get any news about this. Later that day we will have the FOMC minutes, following Chairman Powells’ recent Hawkish statements, I expect the Dollar to strengthen after this release.
All in all not a crazy week but a few market events on the cards- if you have any transactions you require help with please don’t hesitate to contact me.