Sterling Latest
Whilst the euro remains everybody's favourite whipping boy at the moment, attention has been deflected away from the pound somewhat. Standing nervously on the sidelines waiting to be asked to dance, the British currency is hardly looking dazzling itself at the moment.
Despite the battering that the euro has taken of late, the pound currently only stands a very modest 1.3% higher against the single currency since the start of the year.
News yesterday that the UK trade deficit widened from GBP6.8 billion to GBP7.28 billion in December almost passed by unnoticed, in the furore surrounding the euro and Greek debt.
That widening was the biggest jump for almost a year, and came contrary to analysts' expectations for the gap to decrease. This is particularly crushing, since a weak pound is supposed to help UK exports, indeed BoE governor Merv The Swerve is on record several times recently saying that he's positively chuffed when the pound takes a tumble - it's good for the economy, don't you know?
The notion that the UK government and the BoE are so relaxed about a fall in sterling, appears to imply that they'd not be inclined to step in to attempt to stop it depreciating further.
With hedge fund managers apparently now starting to bank some profits on short bets on the euro, in the light of a possible Greek bailout, they might now be looking around for their next easy victim.
Step forward the pound. The UK's main export home is Europe, weighed down by the financial cost of supporting it's weaker members. The powers that be here are relaxed, bordering on enthusiastic, about the prospects of the currency taking a further hit. Interest rates aren't going up any time soon. Oh, and did I mention that there's a general election coming up? That's always a good reason to have a bit of a run on a currency. Add a bit of heavy fund selling to that and it sounds like you're simply buying money doesn't it?
Despite the battering that the euro has taken of late, the pound currently only stands a very modest 1.3% higher against the single currency since the start of the year.
News yesterday that the UK trade deficit widened from GBP6.8 billion to GBP7.28 billion in December almost passed by unnoticed, in the furore surrounding the euro and Greek debt.
That widening was the biggest jump for almost a year, and came contrary to analysts' expectations for the gap to decrease. This is particularly crushing, since a weak pound is supposed to help UK exports, indeed BoE governor Merv The Swerve is on record several times recently saying that he's positively chuffed when the pound takes a tumble - it's good for the economy, don't you know?
The notion that the UK government and the BoE are so relaxed about a fall in sterling, appears to imply that they'd not be inclined to step in to attempt to stop it depreciating further.
With hedge fund managers apparently now starting to bank some profits on short bets on the euro, in the light of a possible Greek bailout, they might now be looking around for their next easy victim.
Step forward the pound. The UK's main export home is Europe, weighed down by the financial cost of supporting it's weaker members. The powers that be here are relaxed, bordering on enthusiastic, about the prospects of the currency taking a further hit. Interest rates aren't going up any time soon. Oh, and did I mention that there's a general election coming up? That's always a good reason to have a bit of a run on a currency. Add a bit of heavy fund selling to that and it sounds like you're simply buying money doesn't it?