Good morning
Of course I will start by mentioning the Queen. I am certainly not against the royal family, more ‘for’ than ‘against’ that’s for certain, even if I am not a staunch royalist, and I do like the history we have as well as the pomp and ceremony. It is strange that the death of a lady who I have seen only twice in my life, albeit from a distance, can have such an impact on me. I’m not talking tears, but certainly an empty feeling. I suppose this is to be expected. She has been a part of our lives for so long, indeed for many of us all of our lives, she would always leave a gaping hole when she went. Whatever was going on in the world, and let’s face it there has been quite a bit over her life, she was always a model of stability and consistency. As for the length of her reign, if you tweak the numbers a little, she reigned for almost 30% of the history of USA.
Just one thing I don’t agree with is the cancellation of sporting events as a result of her passing. Through the Man Utd match yesterday (where I have to say both sets of supports observed a minutes silence impeccably) the commentators regularly made reference to how difficult it must be to play in these conditions and whether the match should have been called off. Many sporting events have been cancelled and there is talk of more to follow. Now I feel sad but I am still able to function and work. For many fans of any sport, arrangements will already have been made for tickets, travel and hotels. OK, there may be some who feel more sorrow who may decide not to attend but I don’t think events should be cancelled at short notice. Sure, as and when her funeral takes place, but not now.
I know I am opening myself to criticism for perhaps not adhering to protocol, and my USA maths will certainly open to discussion, but I’ll end this just by saying that regardless of what we all agree, my small ‘tribute’ will never be good enough. We have lost an incredible Queen, someone who has been in our lives for so long, we will unfortunately never see a similar monarch, certainly in our lifetime but most likely not in generations to come. We have been lucky. With her demise there will be inevitable talk of what happens to the monarchy, but now is not the time.
We awake to a bit USD weakness, as I type GBPUSD is up at a heady 1.1635, EURUSD at 1.0100. ECB did raise rates 75bos yesterday and in doing so has allowed banks to earn interest on Euros deposited, whether this leads to an influx of money into the single currency and out of higher-earning currencies remains to be seen but the fact that it will not cost to hold them Is itself a blessing.
But this move is not ECB rate driven, it is USD weakness and most majors have made gains. AUDUSD is up to 0.6865 which takes GBPAUD down to 1.6950, having spent some time above 1.7100 over the past day or so. GBPJPY 165.50 for the record, attempts by Japanese officials to talk JPY up didn’t really work but this USD move sees USDJPY down to low 142s.
I’m running a bit late, such was the difficulty in finding the right words to send off the Queen. I could sit here for hours and never do her justice so I’ll send this now. Have a splendid weekend, and while thinking about the Queen please also spare a thought on Sunday for those who lost their lives in the terror attacks back in 2001.
Next week sees US inflation, BoE rate rise, and for the night owls we will have Aussie employment and NZ GDP, so enjoy the rest while you can.
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