UK interest rates were left static at 0.5% on Thursday BUT the Bank of England said that it may need to raise interest rates at a faster-than-expected pace. This catapulted the the pound higher as the prospect of higher rates makes the pound attractive to investors but by Friday lunchtime all gains had been reversed.
Meanwhile the good-news-bad-news Brexit ‘yoyo’ continues. It has emerged that unless we are careful, UK drivers licences won’t be acceptable in EU countries. That was never in the ‘Leave’ Campaign manifesto and could cause chaos!
Still on Brexit, some property developers are claiming that a rise in sales to British buyers is a result of Brexit – people wanting to invest in the ‘safe haven’ of Spain. Sounds like marketing hype to us but the sales figures don’t lie. The Germans are still the biggest foreign buyers of Spanish homes.
And still on Brexit…. that infamous currency speculator George Soros has apparently donated £400,000 to an anti-Brexit pressure group in the UK. So we suggest that nothing is certain, especially the currency markets. Protect yourself at all times, don’t be greedy (foolish) and do seek the calm advice of a currency broker when transferring large amounts of money abroad.
Currency rates at lunchtime on Friday 9th Feb:
GBP/EUR 1.127 (down from a high of 1.1440 on Thursday)
GBP/USD 1.381 (down from 1.414 on Monday)
EUR/USD 1.226 (down from 1.25 last week)
Bitcoin ended the week where it started at $8,229, via a mid-week low of $6,079. Now that is volatility….
Alexander Wright
www.thecurrencyexchange.com
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