Home Daily Commentaries Johnson starts his general election campaign

Johnson starts his general election campaign

Daily Currency Update

GBP - British PoundYesterday, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson started his general election campaign by touring the streets of Moseley outlining his policies on policing, health and education. However as things stand a general election has not yet been called and the Queen has not been informed. As such, Boris in many ways finds himself in a similar situation to the pound - stuck in a state of paralysis, fretting over Brexit. For the Prime Minister though, an election in all likelihood is on its way (as mentioned yesterday) but for the markets the outcome will be incredibly difficult to predict. Will the pound react to the latest opinion polls (and the possibility that the Tories drop in popularity)? Maybe. However, the market has probably learnt its lesson from previous unreliable polls having had its fingers burnt.

Key Movers

The Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc were the markets' worst performing currencies yesterday and there is one reason why. Hope. The market took confidence in the announcement that agricultural tariffs have been removed between the US and China and as such equities rallied whilst bond prices dropped. In Europe, Germany factory orders (the backbone of the economy) dropped off once again to its lowest levels since 2016 which will add more to think about for the ECB and the Euro. Looking towards next week, the highlight (apart from Brexit) will be the ECB press conference and the drop in Germany's output will be top of the agenda.

Expected Ranges

  • GBP/USD: 1.1960 - 1.2350 ▼
  • GBP/EUR: 1.0960 - 1.1140 ▼
  • GBP/AUD: 1.7890 - 1.8100 ▼
  • GBP/NZD: 1.9150 - 1.9250 ▼