Forex Weekly Round Up 19 October 2015 – 23 October 2015

Monday saw the release of the NAHB housing market index, which presents home sales and expected home buildings; these indicate future trends for housing in the US. A high reading is seen as positive for the USD and low seen as negative. This came out better than expected at 64 when the consensus was 62. This is positive for the USD as it can reflect consumer and business confidence.

Wednesday we saw the UK Office for National Statistics report that public sector net borrowing fell to £8.63 billion in September from £10.79 billion in August. The figure was revised from a previously estimated £11.31 billion. This is the smallest budget deficit for a September in eight years as the tax-take from businesses and individuals rose to records.

The Euro lost significant ground on Thursday afternoon after the European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said he was studying new stimulus measures that could be unveiled as soon as December and is prepared to cut its deposit rate deeper into negative territory if needed to fight falling prices. Consumer prices in the 19-country Euro-zone slipped by 0.1% in September, prompting calls for the ECB to expand or extend its 60 billion euros a month quantitative easing program that was designed to push inflation back to the ECB’s target of just under 2%.

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