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We were once again reminded of the human cost of ill-fated decisions over the weekend. Whilst Britain came together as one yesterday to remember those who had lost their lives in the defence of the country, on Friday we once again were given data that showed how many had lost their livelihood.
The US unemployment rate has now risen above 10%; Friday’s release confirming 10.2%. This is simply staggering.
The markets were in stasis for the morning session as everyone waited for the Labor Department figures. In the immediate aftermath we saw USD gain ground against most of the G10 basket while shares across the world lost close on 2% in the course of 10 mins. The market had not expected 10.2% unemployment clearly.
GBPUSD and GBPEUR were also volatile after the announcement but stayed within the ranges we suggested last week.
The key piece of £ centric data this week will be the Bank of England’s Inflation Report due Wednesday, while today’s focus will be on German Industrial Production.
Latest Exchange Rates At Time Of Writing
| Indicative Rates | Sell | Buy |
| GBP/EUR | 1.119 | 1.1217 |
| GBP/USD | 1.6767 | 1.6792 |
| EUR/USD | 1.4976 | 1.4988 |
| GBP/JPY | 151.05 | 151.4 |
| GBP/AUD | 1.8086 | 1.8111 |
| GBP/NZD | 2.2722 | 2.2773 |
| GBP/CAD | 1.7826 | 1.788 |
| NZD/USD | 0.7366 | 1.7386 |
| GBP/ZAR | 12.47 | 12.52 |
| USD/ZAR | 7.43 | 7.47 |
| GBP/PLN | 4.7247 | 4.7516 |
| EUR/JPY | 134.8 | 135.05 |
