Foreign Exchange Report : GBP EUR Rate Under Pressure As Barroso Unveils Roadmap Out Of Eurozone Debt Crisis

October 13, 2011 - Written by John Cameron

STORY LINK Foreign Exchange Report : GBP EUR Rate Under Pressure As Barroso Unveils Roadmap Out Of Eurozone Debt Crisis

The Pound Euro exchange rate (GBP EUR) is 1.1401. The Pound Dollar exchange rate (GBP USD) is 1.5744. The Pound Australian Dollar exchange rate (GBP AUD) is 1.5419.

The markets were reassured by developments in the Eurozone during yesterday’s session as European policy-makers upped their response to the ongoing European debt crisis.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso led the way with a set-piece speech which provided a much-needed roadmap to lead the Eurozone out of the debt malaise that it currently finds itself mired in. Barroso used his speech to outline five wide-ranging policies, including closer political unity, increased pressure on retail banks to support troubled states and the bolstering of the EFSF, (the Eurozone’s existing bail-out fund).

Equities markets responded positively to Barroso’s words, with both Paris’s and Frankfurt’s indices closing up by over 2% on the day. London and New York also traded into positive territory.

Sentiment towards the Euro was further buoyed by news from Slovakia, where policy-makers voted-down proposals to increase the EFSF late on Monday. Rival politicians have rapidly reached a consensus to support the Bill in return for the promise of an early general election in the country. The EFSF bill is now expected to be passed by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, there was also good news for the Eurozone’s real economy, with the release of August’s whole-of-Eurozone Industrial Production figure, which showed that industrial output had unexpectedly expanded by 1.2% since July’s figure. Analysts had anticipated that the figure would show a monthly contraction of 0.8%.

Elsewhere, there was further bad news for investors holding Sterling-denominated assets with the release of official government statistics yesterday morning, which showed that showed that UK unemployment stands at its highest level in seventeen years, with some 2.57m Britons now out of work. The labour market figures also showed that UK youth unemployment has reached a record level, with 991,000 British 16-24 year olds currently without work. This leaves the Pound badly in need of some positive British data to lend it much-needed support; this morning’s UK Trade Balance figures provide the next opportunity for redemption.


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