The main focus in the UK yesterday was on the release of the minutes of the BoE’s August MPC meeting. There had been some speculation that one or more members might have voted for an increase in quantitative easing (QE). The lack of formal support for further QE saw sterling initially react positively, though it gave up much of its gains in later trading on a realisation that the minutes really shed little new light on monetary policy. While in a tight rage against the euro, sterling starts the day …

Sterling traded lower against all 16 of the most actively traded currencies by the London close yesterday with inflation figures doing nothing to change the view that UK rates remain on hold for some time yet. The release today of the minutes of the August Bank of England policy meeting has reinforced this outlook as policy members voted 8-1 to keep Interest rates on hold. As anticipated Andrew Sentence has voted for a rate hike for the third consecutive month, whilst stating that consumer prices will need to be closely …

The euro and pound have both been in full retreat against the US dollar on Wednesday (August 11). One euro is worth just $1.2845 after trading as high as $1.3226 on Tuesday. A British pound nets $1.5636 after a $1.589 peak Tuesday.

Following one of the most highly anticipated events in the economic calendar the Federal Reserve presented a gloomy outlook for the US economy in its post meeting statement yesterday, saying that the pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated.
Committee members went on to say as a number of factors including high unemployment and a depressed housing market weighed on activity over the last few months and announced fresh steps aimed at supporting recovery, saying that it would use …

Overnight movement with Sterling following the weakest RICS Housing data release in a year added to the downward GBP momentum built yesterday as expectations of a dovish BOE coupled with the risk that too much QE is priced for the FED saw cable break 1.5840 support to touch 1.5773
Yesterday was a quiet session for US markets, showing how significant tonight’s FED decision will be. While no change to official US interest rates is anticipated this evening, there is much speculation as to whether the Fed will announce fresh quantitative easing …

The price of gold is currently (August 5) just below $1,195 after it briefly touched $1,200 on August 4th. Gold prices have been on a rebound after more than a $100 downward correction from the all-time high in late June of $1,261.