We asked the team at HiFX for their thoughts on the current market situation and here’s their Market Commentary as of 26/02/14.
“Quarterly GDP figures released by the Office for National Statistics this morning came in as expected at +0.7%. Sales in the UK high street shops have grown strongly since last February, rising at their fastest pace since June 2012 according to The Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
It has been noted by the CBI Distributive survey that high street sales had not been overly effected by the extreme weather in recent weeks, and overall sales had been remarkably resilient in the face of disruption from the exceptional weather, which has badly effected many families and businesses.
Looking at the floods from an economic perspective, David Cameron has announced £130m in extra support for emergency repairs and has said ‘money is no object’ to help those blighted by recent floods. In addition, insurance companies are having to pay out to refurbish affected homes and therefore the data will be looked at very closely over the coming months.
From a European perspective overseas trade seems to be driving economic growth in Germany. The German economy grew by 0.4% in the last quarter compared to the third quarter.
Foreign trade grew to 1.1% of the figure but weak domestic demand brought it down by 0.7%, due to the high job security and rising incomes in Germany plus very low inflation which is currently boosting consumer confidence (a number of analysts expect this to catch up.)
French government figures also indicated their economy grew by 0.3% in the last 3 months of 2013.
Overall, the Eurozone has seen the economy grow by 0.3% in the final three months of 2013, this is up by 0.1% growth in the previous quarter, the fastest since 2011.
As a result of the good news, for both parties we have seen a flat GBP/EUR”
For all your foreign exchange requirement you can contact the HiFX team at their Costa Blanca office via telephone +34 965 978 952 / +34 711 762 922 or by email costablanca@hifx.co.uk