Market Movements: January '15 Review
The start of 2015 has seen a lot of movement for the pound in the financial markets, for better and for worse.
The Christmas period saw a gradual decline for the Euro, resulting in what is now an 8 year high in the sell rate. The 1.3 mark is within sight now which is fantastic news for anyone planning their holidays within Europe over the coming months. On the other hand, it’s not so great for anyone trying to sell Euros back right now, but that is the way it goes unfortunately. After all, you have had 8 years of great buy back rates now! And as always we at ACE-FX will make sure you get the best rates no matter what.
The real big mover though was the Swiss Franc last Thursday. At close on Wednesday we were selling at around 1.51; by 10am Thursday we were selling at barely over 1.3. An incredible rise of almost 30% against the pound saw the biggest overnight change in any currency for years.
There were many reasons for this, but essentially it was because the Swiss National Bank removed the cap it had on the Euro since the currencies were pegged together in 2011. As I stated earlier the Euro has seen a decline recently so the Swiss basically upped and left. This of course led to the Franc becoming ridiculously strong in a very short amount of time.
So well done to anyone going to Switzerland for their winter Ski holiday who managed to order their Francs before Thursday; you would have saved yourself a lot of money!
So all in all a rollercoaster ride in the financial markets at the start of this year. Keep an eye on our website to see up-to-date rates and don’t forget to get one of our brand new pre-paid cards. Ask in one of our stores for details or click on the link on the website.
Happy New Year!
