Sterling Depreciates, Euro Fears Slowdown

Here’s this week’s overview of the Euro and Sterling:

Sterling

Sterling traded at 1.285 against USD last week, a 0.4% depreciation. Sterling remains the top performing G10 currency year to date and is up over 1% against the US Dollar. Activity PMIs last week showed strong expansion in both services and manufacturing. Bets of a BoE rate cut this week have been raised, however, which caused the minor selloff in Sterling.

Euro

The Euro declined to 1.086 versus the US Dollar last week. Services activity remains strong, but manufacturing contracted for a 16th consecutive month, increasing fears of an economic slowdown in the Eurozone. There will be key growth and inflation data released this week which markets will be watching closely.