Latest Articles by David Woodsmith

The Pound Sterling has come under heavy selling pressure during this morning’s European session, thanks to a raft of disappointing UK data releases. The most prominent of these was last month’s British Retail Sales data which showed a surprise drop off of 1.3% compared with the previous month. Analysts had been anticipating an annualised...

This morning’s main event in the global currency markets came in the form of the publication of the latest headline inflation data from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS). The April Consumer Price Index figure showed at significantly below the expected annualised level of 2.6%. The year-on-year print of 2.4% was considerably...

The US Dollar once again market outperformed during yesterday’s session in the global currency markets. By the middle part of yesterday’s North American session, the Pound to US Dollar exchange rate had lost around half a percent of its value and had dipped to 1.5227. This represented the pair’s lowest level for some three weeks. The...

Poor UK data releases marred this morning’s session for the Pound Sterling. A weaker than anticipated print for the latest British Construction Output data ensured that the Pound started the session under pressure. The key gauge of activity in Britain’s building sector showed a year-on-year drop off in activity of a greater than...

Yesterday’s afternoon session in Europe saw risk appetite make a major comeback having been subdued during the early part of the trading day. The shift in investor sentiment saw the high-yielders well supported on the day, with the Australian Dollar making significant gains. The Aussie had been under sustained selling pressure earlier...

The Pound has strengthened against the majority of its peers, approaching a 11-week high against the US Dollar after an industry report showed that UK house prices were little changed in April. Data showed that UK house prices declined in April. Economists had been expecting prices to rise by 0.3%, instead they declined by -0.1%. On a...

This morning’s key UK GDP growth data for Q1 of 2013 beat expectations, showing that activity levels in Britain’s ailing economy increased by a quarterly 0.3% during the first three months of this year. Analysts had been anticipating a showing of 0.1%, so the figure proved to be a positive one for the Pound Sterling. A showing of less...

This morning’s session brought the release of official UK government figures which revealed that the British administration borrowed £120.6bn during the financial year which ended on 5th April, 2013. Cynics were quick to point out that the figure was lower than last year’s comparable number by a suspiciously slim £300m (a minute amount...

The overnight session brought a brace of negative commentaries from global policymakers which could hold back the Pound in the short-to-medium term. Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), described the recent economic figures from the UK economy as ‘not particularly good’. Lagarde’s...

This morning’s UK CPI Inflation data showed a levelling off in the rate of British prices last month. The headline measure of UK inflation remained at the same level as February’s showing printing at exactly the same year-on-year level last month. The ‘no change’ figure of 2.8% was anticipated by analysts, however the Bank of England...