Sterling And Euro Slide As Greek Tragedy Unfolds
The pound and euro are under pressure again this morning as the magnitude of Greece's debt tragedy unfold, with Portugal waiting in the wings about to also seemingly take to the stage.
It's not like we haven't known about these things for months is it, it's the size of the problem that hasn't been made entirely clear. When you go to the bank for a last ditch loan, you don't tell them that all your credit cards are up to the max and the bailiffs arrive tomorrow anyway do you?
The spotlight has again been cast on sterling, trying to hide behind the stage curtain. How will Britain sort it's debt problems out? Is there a plan? And if there is who is going to be in charge to implement it?
The sudden surge in popularity of the Lib-Dems appears to make a hung parliament seem more than likely next week. Even Mr Popular Nick Clegg now seems to be squirming under the spotlight when asked for a direct answer to a direct "will you only get into bed with Labour if the one-eyed Jock gets the boot?"
"Erm, well let's mutter something about kingmakers, that will get everyone confused. Who are the kingmakers? You are the kingmakers. Those bad people over there aren't the kingmakers. Right, that's cleared that up then. Next question?"
With muppets like this in charge it's hardly surprising that confidence is waning is it? If it was a play I'd have left by now.
The pound is down to 1.5170 against the dollar this morning, it's lowest since April 8th.
Meanwhile in Europe we've gone from a situation of banks not lending to the public sector, to them also not lending to the private sector, to them now not even wanting to lend to fellow European countries.
As per usual the US dollar is one of the main beneficiaries of this latest flight to safety. The Fed are widely expected to leave rates on hold later today, but accompanying upbeat comments from Ben Bernanke over a rosy outlook for the US economy could strengthen the dollar further.
It isn't hard to envisage more dollar appreciation against both the pound and sterling in the weeks ahead that's for sure.
It's not like we haven't known about these things for months is it, it's the size of the problem that hasn't been made entirely clear. When you go to the bank for a last ditch loan, you don't tell them that all your credit cards are up to the max and the bailiffs arrive tomorrow anyway do you?
The spotlight has again been cast on sterling, trying to hide behind the stage curtain. How will Britain sort it's debt problems out? Is there a plan? And if there is who is going to be in charge to implement it?
The sudden surge in popularity of the Lib-Dems appears to make a hung parliament seem more than likely next week. Even Mr Popular Nick Clegg now seems to be squirming under the spotlight when asked for a direct answer to a direct "will you only get into bed with Labour if the one-eyed Jock gets the boot?"
"Erm, well let's mutter something about kingmakers, that will get everyone confused. Who are the kingmakers? You are the kingmakers. Those bad people over there aren't the kingmakers. Right, that's cleared that up then. Next question?"
With muppets like this in charge it's hardly surprising that confidence is waning is it? If it was a play I'd have left by now.
The pound is down to 1.5170 against the dollar this morning, it's lowest since April 8th.
Meanwhile in Europe we've gone from a situation of banks not lending to the public sector, to them also not lending to the private sector, to them now not even wanting to lend to fellow European countries.
As per usual the US dollar is one of the main beneficiaries of this latest flight to safety. The Fed are widely expected to leave rates on hold later today, but accompanying upbeat comments from Ben Bernanke over a rosy outlook for the US economy could strengthen the dollar further.
It isn't hard to envisage more dollar appreciation against both the pound and sterling in the weeks ahead that's for sure.
