Greece and the Euro, Yellen and the Dollar – What happened today and how will the market react?

Greeks gain a provisional agreement

The on-going Greek saga appears to be set to continue for at least a few months as this afternoon we saw a provisional agreement confirmed by the Eurogroup. They have agreed to proceed with national procedures with a view to reaching a final decision on the extension which may be up to four months.

This agreement had little effect on Euro exchange rates as it had been widely expected for the past few days.

The next question really is how do I see the Sterling/Euro exchange rate moving in the coming weeks following this announcement? One of the main reasons the Euro has weakened over the past six weeks or so has been down to uncertainty, which has been heightened by the media hype and constant coverage over Greece. In essence the problem has not gone away it has merely been delayed for a few months.

The fact though that it has been essentially swept under the carpet could see the Euro slowly creep back a little and personally a move back below 1.34 would not be a great surprise to me.

Mario Draghi is set to speak later today at 15:30pm in a quiet day for economic data destined to be focused on Greece once again.

If you have a currency requirement in the near future and are happy with current buying levels (7 year high) then there is a great option available to you known as a forward contract. This useful contract option allows you to lock into a rate of exchange for anything up to a year in advance, paying merely a small deposit initially and then the balance on or before whichever date has been agreed, this is absolutely vita if you are working to a fairly tight budget. If you feel this may be of use to you or you just want to see how I can help with any currency transaction in terms of getting you a better rate and level of service then please feel free to email me (Daniel Wright) directly on [email protected] and I will be happy to explain how this handy market tool works.

 Janet Yellen’s Comments give us little to work off of

Janet Yellen (Head of the Federal Reserve) testified yesterday and had many questions thrown at her surrounding interest rate hikes and when we may start to see them for America.

The main comments to pull from a long conference were that she insisted that the Fed should not be chained to decisions and that although the U.S recovery is on solid ground, there are still concerns surrounding inflation and the labour market which is not yet fully healed.

Yellen mentioned that she could not see a hike for the next two meetings which pushes us back until at least May and could lead to a little Dollar weakness in the coming days and push back above the 1.55 level. If you are looking to either buy or sell Dollars in the near term and you want to achieve the very best rate along with a highly efficient service then feel free to email me (Daniel Wright) directly [email protected] and I will be more than happy to get back in touch personally.