Euro to Pound Confounds Exchange Rate Experts, Latest EUR/GBP and GBP/USD Forecasts 2014

October 23, 2014 - Written by John Cameron

STORY LINK Euro to Pound Confounds Exchange Rate Experts, Latest EUR/GBP and GBP/USD Forecasts 2014

Currency news presents the EUR to GBP and the GBP vs USD exchange rate forecasts (2014/2015) and latest conversions today.

The old market adage states that ‘what should go up, and doesn’t go up, can only come down’.

On the face of it, today’s session should have been a positive one for the Euro to Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) following a disappointing set of UK shop sales figures and encouraging economic stats out of the euroland.

The Euro to Pound exchange rate today converts +0.12 per cent higher at 1 EUR is 0.78894 GBP.
The Euro to Dollar exchange rate today is converting +0.04 per cent higher at 1.26466 EUR/USD.
The Pound to Euro exchange rate is -0.12 pct lower with a conversion rate of 1 GBP equals 1.26752 EUR.
The Pound to Dollar rate today converts -0.09 per cent lower at 1 GBP is 1.60298 USD.

Don't forget if you are waiting to find better exchange rates for a international payments, then you're best bet is to set up your future rate order with a foreign exchange broker.

Euro vs Pound: Poor UK Shop Sales Data Hurts GBP/EUR

The latest UK Retail Sales data, published by the Office of National Statistics this morning, showed an unexpectedly large month-on-month drop from 4.4 % in August to 3.1% last month.

The numbers added to the impression created by last week’s below-par UK inflation data that the UK economic recovery is beginning to show signs of stalling.

Meanwhile, a raft of PMI surveys from Germany and the whole of the eurozone, published a short time before the British statistics, pointed to a generalised pick-up in the levels of economic activity in mainland Europe.

The result should, by any measure, have caused the EUR GBP exchange rate to improve.

However, EUR GBP has leaked support since this morning, tracking lower from an intraday high of 0.7917 down to as low as 0.7871 a short time ago.

The fact that the pair has incurred losses on a good data day does not bode well for its future performance into the short-to-medium term.

Gains Forecast For US Dollar

Neil Mellor of Bank of New York Mellon talked through the disappointing UK figures in respect of the Pound to Dollar pair, explaining that, ‘a lot of the fears about the economy are now materialising and the bottom line is the downside for sterling is still there. Sterling was being bid up right to $1.70, largely because the Bank of England was the only central bank, the Federal Reserve aside, that appeared likely to start raising interest rates.’

Dollar Rate Today: Strong US Jobs Data Help USD/GBP

Elsewhere, the euro (EUR) once again suffered due to the US Dollar’s (USD) relative strength on the day which was precipitated by economic numbers which showed that the four week average of US jobless claims had dropped to its lowest level in some 14 years.

Mark McCormick of Credit Agricole was go-ahead on the future chances for the Buck earlier, stating that, ‘what we’re looking for is further consolidation in Dollar strength. The Fed’s comfortable with the strength of the labor market. But I think the real issue is really where the slack in the labor market is.’

Most foreign exchange analysts now forecast that the future is bright for the USD.

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