There have certainly been some ups and down in the currency exchange world at the start of 2023. These fluctuations can have a big impact if you are buying or selling a property here in Spain. here we take a little more in-depth look at what is affecting the most common currencies for buyers and sellers here in Spain.
GBP: The British pound gained 1.11% against the US dollar last week, causing the cable to close at its highest level since mid-December. This comes despite some disappointing local economic data: UK Industrial production and manufacturing production both surprised lower for the month of November. Looking forward, investors focus will shift to UK employment data on Tuesday and UK CPI data on Wednesday. Headline inflation is seen softening to 10.5% y/y in December from 10.7% prior. The core gauge is estimated at 6.2% y/y, down from 6.3% prior. Today’s focus now shifts toward the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey’s testimony before the UK Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, due at 15:00 GMT. The bias here would be that upside data surprises would help the Bank of England maintain a hawkish stance relative to the Fed, thus, further supporting the British Pound. EUR: European stock markets are expected to trade in a mixed fashion this morning, at the start of a week that includes important inflation data as well as the return of the World Economic Forum to Davos. In fact, the World Economic Forum returns to the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week, with European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz among the dignitaries expected to attend the glitzy affair after a pandemic-influenced three-year absence. Looking into today’s economic calendar, this morning’s data showed German wholesale prices fell 1.6% in the month of December, a welcome retreat. That said, the early focus this week is likely to be on tomorrow’s release of Germany’s ZEW survey of economic sentiment for January. This is expected to show an improvement to -15.5 from -23.3 in December. Ultimately, both the Euro as well as European equities have benefited from this boosted sentiment. USD: The U.S. dollar stabilized in this morning, trading just above a seven-month low on rising expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of its interest-rate hikes. In fact, the Dollar Index edged up to 101.98, just above levels not seen since early June last year, although volumes are limited with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The dollar is down well over 1% so far this year, with last week’s U.S. CPI data showing inflation fell for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years in December. This seemingly confirmed earlier impressions that inflation is on the retreat, which has led to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its rate-hike cycle and that rates will not go as high as previously feared. Looking forward, the main U.S. economic release this week will be Wednesday’s U.S. retail sales. They posted their largest decline in 11 months in November and a similar drop in December would further add to expectations that the Fed will cool its aggressive rate hikes to avoid more damage to the economy. When you are buying or selling a property in Spain and dealing with large amounts of money, it is very important to get the best advice on how to go about this. A few percent swings in the rates can leave you significantly out of pocket! Having the ability to forward fix your rate or guarantee protection against rate swings can also give you piece of mind and reduce the stress of any move. For more information or advice on this, please just get in touch, we are happy to help you. For more articles like this just click here For more videos on subjects like this just click here |
