Pound Falters

The pound is down against the euro this morning as investors appetite for risk waivers following the news last night that US credit card defaults are running at their highest level in at least twenty years.

Sterling fell to 92.65 pence against the euro, close to a six week low of 93.20 pence set last week.

A report on German economic sentiment expected at 10.00GMT is likely to set the tone for the rest of the week for the euro.

German ZEW business confidence is expected to have slipped to around -8 from -5.8 in February, as lingering concerns regarding the banking sector and further evidence of a deepening recession weigh on sentiment.**

The pound was also a little lower against the dollar at $1.4049 ahead of the Fed starting a two-day meeting later today to discuss the possibility of issuing new measures, or extending the existing ones, to attempt to further stimulate the US economy.

** Footnote - in a surprise move, when the data came out it had actually improved to -3.5, although the indicator is still well below its historical average of 26.2.