By Luke Dyson
What a start to the year! Sterling has really changed its course and made some significant gains against the euro. With a two year high being broken on Tuesday and a four year high close in sight if sterling can maintain this progress, however moving forward a significant resistance level will need to be broken in order for sterling to make any further highs just yet.
For Sterling-Dollar we have still seen a strong gain since the beginning of the year, however it has been more reserved due to the US Dollar maintaining its strength, following the Federal Reserve revealing they could raise interest rates as soon as March, leaving the door open to four potential rate hikes across the course of 2022.
For the ongoing covid situation there have been significant changes to testing, travel and isolating over the last week, with lateral flows now being used to confirm cases instead of PCR tests as before. Also, with pre-departure tests being scrapped when traveling abroad, which now makes traveling abroad significantly easier and cheaper.
Although there have been some positive moves forward regarding covid it is still the main talking point and currency market mover at present and with the case numbers reaching daily highs it still leaves a massive amount of uncertainty for the strength of sterling if there were going to be any changes to the current ‘Plan B ‘or if the NHS was to become over-run again.
If you have any pending currency transfers or are potentially looking to buy a property overseas this year please do consider taking advantage of the current rates, this sterling strength could be short lived with covid going on in the background and also growing concerns with inflation getting out of control in the UK. Please get in touch with your currency consultant today to discuss getting a strategy in place and taking advantage any buying opportunities.