Find out what's been happening to GBP and EUR this week, our current exchange rates and our medium/long-term view on the currencies!
The big news this week came from the European Central Bank and UK retail sales. ECB minutes reveal the bank is worried about the Euro “overshooting” against other currencies (a strong Euro makes exports from the bloc less competitive). The release of the ECB minutes yesterday sent the Euro downward.
However in the UK retail sales were up 0.3% month on month in July, slightly ahead of 0.2% forecast. Spending seems to have defied expectations of a slowdown since the Brexit referendum, and currently seems to be holding up despite weak wage growth and above-target inflation. However the modest gains made by the pound on yesterday’s positive news have swiftly unwound, as we’re told the underlying picture on the High Street remains one of "subdued growth” and that “the main factor squeezing consumers is the weakness of the pound against other major currencies which is pushing up import prices and fuelling inflation” – PWC Economic advisor Andrew Sentance. UK consumers seem to be watching and waiting for inflation to subside and for post-Brexit uncertainty to clear. Until there is some relief on these issues, we expect this picture of subdued growth to continue which goes hand-in-hand with a weak pound.
At the time of writing our rates are: We sell 1.09 EUR / We buy 0.90 EUR.
