Home Daily Commentaries Sterling high on sentiment

Sterling high on sentiment

Daily Currency Update

GBP - British PoundSterling has recovered some of the losses seen since last Friday. GBPUSD, which had touched 1.3060 on Monday, currently sits just under 1.3150 and GBPEUR is back above 1.1100. With little macroeconomic data to digest till now, Sterling finds support on investor sentiment. Data today comes in the form of US durable goods as we get an update on the value of new purchase orders placed with manufacturers. Expectation is lower than the previous figure (4.4%), so there is a good chance we will see a fourth straight improvement on forecast. The UK will also see a 5pm speech from MPC member Haldane who is due to address the Edinburgh International Culture Summit. The speech will likely be scrutinised for any sound bites on how the economy is and will do in these testing times. GBPUSD will likely take some direction from these releases today, but one eye will be on tomorrow's Jackson Hole Symposium for volatility.

Key Movers

isk-off has entered back into the market as upcoming US data comes into focus. Yesterday we saw an unexpected fall in US consumer confidence with the figure coming in at 84.8 versus the target 93.0. As consumers make up 2/3 of the US GDP, this 6-year low figure hurt risk sentiment. This is ahead of today's durable goods data and more significantly, tomorrow's speech from Fed Chair, Powell, and the Jackson Hole Symposium. Investors and traders will start to align their positions, which will only add volatility to the USD and across the board with risk.

Expected Ranges

  • GBP/USD: 1.3080 - 1.3200 ▲
  • GBP/EUR: 1.1080 - 1.3170 ▲
  • GBP/AUD: 1.8210 - 1.8330 ▼
  • GBP/NZD: 1.9960 - 2.0110 ▼
  • GBP/CAD: 1.7270 - 1.7360 ▲