Staying on top of the latest currency news can help you time your transfers more effectively, so find out what you should be looking out for over the next couple of weeks…
Latest currency news
The US dollar suffered significant weakness over the past couple of weeks in response to falling Treasury yields and the Federal Reserve reinforcing its current dovish bias.
During this period, we’ve seen GBP/EUR plunge from a one-year high of €1.18 to €1.15, whilst EUR/GBP has climbed to £0.86.
Meanwhile, GBP/USD struck as high as $1.39 before stabilising around $1.38, while EUR/USD has rallied from $1.17 to $1.20.
What’s been happening?
The past couple of weeks have been marked by a notable sell-off in the US dollar, as a drop in US Treasury yields and dovish Fed commentary have reversed the currency’s recent bullish run.
This downturn in USD has directly benefited the euro due to the negative correlation in the pairing, with the single currency also garnering support amidst an acceleration of the EU’s vaccine rollout and improving coronavirus statistics.
The pound, meanwhile, has traded in a wide range through the first half of April.
Sterling initially climbed to multi-month highs as the UK government confirmed that it would go ahead with the reopening of non-essential retail this month, before stumbling amidst profit taking and concerns over potential disruption to the UK’s vaccination programme.
What do you need to look out for?
Looking ahead, with a large part of the UK economy now reopened, the pound looks well positioned to accelerate as we head into May, especially if UK economic releases remain upbeat.
At the same time, the euro may maintain its upward trajectory as the EU’s vaccine rollout starts to reach a larger portion of the population and lockdown measures in the continent start to ease again.
Meanwhile, the US dollar is likely to face an uphill battle in the coming week as an improving global economic outlook looks to sap demand for the safe-haven currency.
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