Will the ECB cut interest rates in Europe

Will the ECB cut interest rates in Europe

Today’s main focus will be the ECB rate decision at 12.45pm followed by the press conference 45 minutes later. With Februarys inflation marginally stronger than anticipated at 0.8%, expectations that the ECB would be rushed into further policy stimulus at this meeting have faded. The press conference will be interesting to guide the immediate outlook.

If they do cut rates we hope the pounds to euro exchange rate will rise above the 1.22 region finally and present a great time for those buying euros

Bank of England – Will the BOE hike Rates

The Bank of England announces wither or not we will pay more for our mortgages today – personally this is a double edge sword – if the BOE hike rates the pounds to euros exchange rate will strengthen and on the flip side i will pay more for my monthly mortgage repayments.

General sentiment is that the BOE will leave rates unchanged but say that the risks are more towards a rate hike as the property market prices march north as reported by Halifax House prices raising 2.4% in Feb and 7.9%.

To Buy Euros today – could be worth a wait to see what happens.

Euros To US Dollars

Euros to US dollars traded within a tight range yesterday.

Headlines from Russia suggesting there was little desire to use militarily action in Ukraine helped ease market concerns and helped support the Euro exchange rates yesterday. Headline risks remain but for today, in the absence of any negative news, we expect Euros to US Dollars to remain range bound ahead of tomorrow’s ECB meeting; the data released today look unlikely to be major market movers.

 

If you are looking to compare euro exchange rates visit us

Us Dollar exchange rates

For today, the employment component of the non-manufacturing ISM survey and the ADP employment report will be closely watched. We would expect market reaction to be binary, with a stronger out turn in both likely to suggest upside risks for payrolls. However, in such scenario we think US Dollar exchange rate upside may be limited given both have been poor indicators of payrolls over the past few months.

However, if the numbers are near expectations, then we would expect that would have little impact on market expectations for payrolls and will likely keep the US Dollar trading range bound in the run up to Friday.

That said it is still a good time to buy US dollars