Yesterday saw the largest movement for the Swiss Franc in its history as the Swiss National Bank decided to set a minimal level for the Franc against the Euro. Within ten minutes the CHF weakened by roughly 8% against everything as CHF was sold off rapidly by the SNB to get from 1.10 to 1.20 against the Euro, also against the Pound we saw similar movements as GBP-CHF went to 1.38 from 1.25!
Lets see what has actually happened here and what effect this may have gonig forward not just for EUR and CHF but for many other currencies too….
The Swiss are in effect saying they will buy unlimited quantities of of currency in order to keep the EUR-CHF rate at a minimum level of 1.20, personally if I had an investment in Swiss Francs and at some point I had to bring it back into Euros then why hold on now, I would sell it straight away as by all accounts the SNB say it will never get any better than this to sell…. This may lead to a large sell off of CHF in the coming weeks and months which may weaken the Swiss Franc and lead to investors looking for other places to store their funds.
On the other hand justhow much money have the SNB got to combat this??!! By decreasing the value in Swiss Francs it will increase demand, and many investors will no doubt see this as a buying opportunity which may mean that the SNB face an ongoing battle against investor appetite, the longer this goes on the more they have to draw on and do they really have a bottomless pit of money?? I don’t think so!
Yesterday saw the Pound lose ground against most majors following this, we slipped below the 1.60 mark against the Dollar as investors turned to gold (priced in Dollars) and also the Euro and antipdean currencies gained as it appears Sterling is still nowhere near the currency of choice.
Last night saw Australian GDP figures released and they came out 1% growth for their economy, much better than the 1% expected and leading to a good bit of AUD strength….. This goes to show Australiais still boxing on well in the global economic nightmare compared to the U.K showing a rather dismal 0.2%. Be aware this may lead to the AUD being fairly solid again in the near term so those of you with transactions to make may wish to think fast.
If you have a Swiss Franc mortgage, you are emigrating to Australia, you have business transactions to send overseas or any general need to transfer anything from £1000 to multi millions from one bank account to another involving a currency exchange then contact me directly [email protected] or by calling me during U.K office hours on +44 (0) 1494 787 462 and I will be happy to help you get the best rate along with a great level of customer service.
I look forward to hearing from you and heres to another busy day on the markets! 🙂