On Tuesday night Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen emphasised global dangers to growth and inflation, hence the need to proceed “cautiously” on tightening policy. She said global risks were not expected to have a deep impact on the US, but caution was still appropriate. Her tone was similar to the Fed’s mid-March statement, when the central bank made no change to rates.

The dollar fell broadly on Wednesday and is heading for its worst quarter in five years against a basket of currencies, as investors wound back their expectations for US interest rate rises in 2016. The US dollar hit its lowest level against the euro in nearly seven weeks on Wednesday.

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee warned on Brexit risks to financial stability. The committee said “the most significant near-term domestic risks to financial stability” were connected to the referendum on EU membership on June 23rd.

Thursday saw Sterling start the day well after a positively revised GDP figure came out at 0.6% showing the economy grew at a faster pace than had previously been expected though the current account deficit widened to 32.7B from a previous of 20B.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:43 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 1.4296
GBP/EUR 1.2519
USD/EUR 0.8757

This week, British manufacturing output suffered its biggest decline since 2009 in Q1 of 2016, but output is expected to pick up over the coming three months. The Confederation of British Industry’s monthly survey showed manufacturing output fell to -15 in the three months to March.

Wednesday marked the three-month countdown to the UK’s June referendum on its membership of the European Union. With the fear of Brexit, there is increased pressure on the pound. On Tuesday we saw the pound lose more than 1% when it was driven to one-week lows, as terrorist attacks in Brussels sparked speculation that Britain’s would be compelled to leave the EU.

For the British Pound in particular, the news out of Belgium, regarding the attacks represents a new piece of evidence for the ‘vote to leave’ camp in the upcoming EU referendum on June 23. Over the coming days politicians will try to capitalize on the populist anti-immigration sentiment by endorsing ‘the leave’ campaign, this could mean further weakness in the pound.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:20 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 1.4141
GBP/EUR 1.2672
USD/EUR 0.8962

The main feature of this week was the Budget speech delivered by George Osborne on Wednesday. Here are the main highlights:

• Growth estimates revised down to 2.2% in 2016 2.4% in 2017.
• Corporation tax to be cut to 17% by 2020.
• 40% tax rate threshold to be increased to £45,000 by 2017.

As a result of the budget speech and due to investors rushing to change their bets on the Bank of England interest rate changes the Pound increased in value compared with a host of other currencies.

In other news, the Pound rallied against the US Dollar as investors continue to sell the Dollar after Thursday’s Federal Reserve amended policy outlook statement.

Also on Thursday, we saw the Pound reach its highest level in over a month against the US Dollar.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:40 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 1.4489
GBP/EUR 1.2838
USD/EUR 0.8860

Thursday signalled one of the most volatile days in currency markets following the ECB press conference and rate decision. As expected by markets the ECB cut deposit rates by 10 basis points further in to negative territory to -0.4% – which means the ECB will be charging banks more to hold their overnight funds and thus incentivising banks and financial institutions to increase lending activity to ultimately increase economic output.

This went hand-in-hand with the marginal lending rate also cut from 0.3% to 0.25%, which means banks, and financial institutions will be charged less for borrowing from the ECB overnight. Furthermore, Mario Draghi has also increased the quantitative easing programme by €20bn a month, bringing the asset purchase programme to €80bn from a previous of €60bn.

Off the back of this EUR depreciated across the board massively with both GBPEUR and EURUSD reflecting the negative sentiment in the Eurozone given the interest rate cut.

However, the gains made against the EUR were only momentary as in the following press conference Mario Draghi implied interest rates would stay ‘very low’ for at least another year and played down the speculation of further interest rate cuts. As a direct result to these comments; we saw EUR strength return causing EURUSD, GBPEUR and GBPUSD to dramatically retract the previous gains made.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 13:00 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 1.4289
GBP/EUR 1.2877
USD/EUR 0.9008

On Monday, we saw the pound strengthen against all major currencies. British mortgage approvals hit a two-year high in January and consumer credit expanded at the fastest pace in a decade. Mortgage approvals for house purchases numbered 74,581 in January from 71,335 in December.

In less optimistic news, the UK manufacturing sector is getting closer to contraction: a score of 50.8 points the worst in three years, reflects very slow growth, much worse than the expected slide from 52.9 to 52.2.

Over in Europe, Spanish unemployment continues to rise with figures showing that an extra 2,231 people registered with the Public Employment Services in February after forecasts predicted only a rise of 200.

Early on Thursday morning Sterling fell against the dollar and euro after the Services PMI index fell to its lowest in three years to 52.7 from 55.6 in February. With UK services a dominant force in the UK economy there are concerns that overall GDP in the first quarter of 2016 could weaken to just 0.3% – the lowest level since late 2012.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 13:04 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 1.4155
GBP/EUR 1.2903
USD/EUR 0.9115

The fragile pound lost nearly 1% against the US dollar on Monday with further uncertainty over Britons EU membership. Furthermore, the UK Inflation Report made clear that the Bank of England could cut interest rates to zero if the UK was put in a “position where the economy needed additional stimulus”. However, in Carney’s words, there was “no intention and no interest” towards setting negative interest rates such as the likes of Japan and Switzerland to boost growth and inflation.

Increasing anxiety of the Brexit drove sterling down to a new seven year low. We saw the pound fall to its lowest levels since February 2009 against the US dollar. We also saw GBPEUR drop by 0.58%. The pound tumbled further as cabinet ministers clashed over the legal strength of Britain’s new deal with Europe.

UK GDP came out in line with analyst expectations at 1.9% and Sterling licked its wounds near a seven-year low against the dollar after three tumultuous days since Prime Minister David Cameron called a referendum on Britain’s EU membership for 23rd June. The pound was up 0.3% on Thursday but remains around 3% lower this week against the dollar, with a test of its 2009 low of $1.35 within sight.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 13:54 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 1.3965
GBP/EUR 1.2724
USD/EUR 0.9111

Sterling fell around 0.5% against the dollar on Tuesday after Bank of England policymaker Ian McCafferty said inflationary pressures had fallen, although he still expected the next interest rate move to be up.

Inflation edged up to its highest rate for a year last month as rises in the price of alcohol and clothing pushed up the cost of living. The consumer prices index rose to 0.3% in January from 0.2% in December. Alcohol and tobacco rose by 1.3% compared with January 2015, when there were heavy discounts on beer.

The jobless rate in the UK held steady at a 10 year low in December, while the average earnings index increased in line with expectations. The Office for National Statistics said that the rate of unemployment held at 5.1% in the three months to December, it was expected to fall to 5.0%.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:50 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 1.4274
GBP/EUR 1.2844
USD/EUR 0.8998

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

The Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was released on Monday morning and came out better that expected at the figure of 52.9, a three month high, increasing from the previous figure of 52.1 and beating the expected figure of 51.8 showing growth within the UK manufacturing sector.

The UK construction sector slowed in January to its weakest level for nine months. With the Markit construction PMI falling to 55 from 57.8. Economists had forecast for a reading of 57.5. The construction PMI release was in contrast to a stronger-than-expected start for the manufacturing sector published on Monday.

The Bank of England (BoE) kept interest rates and their asset purchase program on hold at 0.5% and £375bn on Thursday lunchtime, but the voting moved to a unanimous 9-0-0 in favour of inertia, with Ian Mcafferty relinquishing his position as the Monetary Policy Committee’s solitary hawk. In the press conference, BoE governor Carney reiterated the likelihood that the next move in rates will be up. This was covered in the statement, but questioned over recent probabilities of a possible cut Governor Carney affirmed this and was encouragement enough for a GBP rally in Thursday’s trade.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 13:04 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 1.4551
GBP/EUR 1.2995
USD/EUR 0.8931

In a speech Mark Carney, Bank of England governor, said, he focused on global risks that could rattle momentum and restrain inflation, prompting many economists to forecast no change in interest rates for at least another year. Carney’s downbeat commentary on falling oil prices and China’s slowdown as well as Britain’s referendum on EU membership suggests that the BoE will not be raising rates any time soon.

The Nationwide HPI (House Price Index) showed that house prices in the UK rose 0.3% this month compared with 0.8% the month before. Nationwide’s Chief Economist commented that; ‘As we look ahead, the risks are skewed towards a modest acceleration in house price growth, at least at the national level and that the labour market appears to have significant forward momentum.’

The Pound gained across the board on Thursday after the GDP figure showed the UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months to the end of December, taking the annual rate of growth for 2015 to 2.2%. The final quarters growth for 2015 bettered the previous GDP figure of 0.4%, showing the economy is still performing despite global macroeconomic conditions.

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Here are the exchange rates taken at 12:25 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 1.4295
GBP/EUR 1.3092
USD/EUR 0.9159