Latest Articles by Toni Johnson

A press release from leading credit ratings agency Moody’s Investor Services, released during Friday’s session, spelled good news for Turkey and for the Turkish Lira. Moody’s announced that they had upgraded their credit rating of the Mediterranean nation’s sovereign debt to Baa3. The move means that Turkish bonds are now considered...

The main event in the currency markets this morning was provided by the publication of the latest edition of the closely-monitored ZEW Sentiment Survey in Germany. Analysts had been anticipating that the gauge of confidence amongst economic participants in the eurozone’s premier economic power would show a healthy increase from last...

The US Dollar was star performer in the currency markets yesterday afternoon following the release of a strong set of domestic labour market data. Official US government figures revealed that the number of Initial Jobless Claims had fallen to its lowest level since late in late 2007 last week. The print of 323,000 new claimants bettered...

Pound Sterling The Pound is within 0.4% of an eleven-week high against the US Dollar ahead of the release of a report that is expected to show that UK construction fell at a slower pace than in April. Against the Euro, Sterling was little changed as the market awaits the European Central Bank’s decision on interest rates. The...

The Pound has risen to its highest level in ten-weeks against the US Dollar after data showed that UK house prices increased in April, increasing investor optimism that the UK economy is showing signs that its recovery is beginning to get back on track. Sterling climbed for a fourth day in a row against the ‘Greenback’, its longest...

The major data release today came in the form of this afternoon’s US GDP data, which revealed that the world’s largest economy is expanding at a considerably slower level than analysts had been anticipating. The vast American economy grew by an annualised 2.5% during the first quarter of 2013 – economists had been anticipating a...

Yesterday’s session in the currency markets brought a relatively light schedule of data releases, perhaps the most significant of which came from the eurozone in the form of the latest consumer confidence survey. Analysts had been anticipating a deterioration of the levels of optimism amongst economic participants in the region, so it came...

The POUND STERLING has enjoyed a broadly positive day on the currency markets today. Sentiment surrounding the UK currency has been relatively firm since yesterday’s NIESR GDP Growth estimate forecasted that Britain’s economy had returned to growth during the first quarter of 2013. With little in the way of UK data releases scheduled for...

The Pound to Euro exchange rate (currency : GBP EUR) has crept higher during today’s session in the global currency markets. The move upwards towards 1.1800 was initiated by this morning’s Halifax House Price survey, which showed that UK property prices have continued to edge higher during the first three months of 2013. The survey showed...

This morning’s report from the British Chamber of Commerce, which predicted that the UK economy has avoided slipping in to an unprecedented triple dip recession, has failed to stop the POUND STERLING losing ground against the majority of the other sixteen most-actively traded currencies so far today. Weaker than expected UK Mortgage...