Forex Weekly Round Up 8/2/16 – 12/2/16

The UK’s goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened by £1.9bn to a record high of £125bn in 2015, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics also warned the latest figures would have a negative impact on its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth. The overall deficit – the difference between the amount the UK imports and what it exports – stood at £34.7bn in 2015.

On Wednesday we saw manufacturing figures released. UK Manufacturing production fell for the third straight month in December. The Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing production decreased by 0.2% in December. The figure was below expectations for a gain of 0.1% and following a decline of 0.3% a month earlier.

Thursday saw GBP fall to 15 month lows against a basket of currencies amid global fears of slowing forth prospects on the UK economy and a lack of movement on the interest rate hike notion. British 10 year gilt yield slid to a record low of 1.2250% in the morning session before recovering to at 1.305% in afternoon trade.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:49 today. Please note that all conversions are based on interbank rates without any spreads and should be used only as a guide. For live ‘spot’ and ‘forward’ prices please feel free to drop us a line.

GBP/USD 1.4528
GBP/EUR 1.2896
USD/EUR 0.8878