Mark Bolsom, Travelex

Market commentary: Travelex

Mark Bolsom is Head of the UK Trading Desk at Travelex Global Business Payments.

Travelex Global Business Payments is a global foreign exchange specialist providing payments and receipt of domestic and international funds for businesses of all sizes. For more than 30 years, Travelex Global Business Payments has provided clients with sophisticated market knowledge, leading edge technologies and practical and innovative solutions tailored to individual requirements. Every year, Travelex Global Business Payments processes payments around the world over 35,000 businesses to 1 million beneficiaries.

Eurozone leaders expected to announce the beginning of the end

21 October 2011
Major currency pairs traded within familiar ranges on Thursday with investors likely to have already taken up their positions ahead of Sunday’s crucial EU summit. Eurozone leaders are expected to announce the beginning of the end to the area’s long running sovereign debt crisis which has threatened to spark a global financial meltdown.

Dispute between France and Germany over new anti-crisis measures sends investors running for cover

20 October 2011
A dispute between France and Germany over new anti-crisis measures surfaced late on Wednesday which immediately sent investors running for cover.

Moody’s Investor Service downgrading on Spanish debt

19 October 2011
Eurozone developments continued to dominate currency markets on Tuesday. Investors swiftly abandoned the euro and other riskier assets yesterday after Moody’s Investor Service downgraded their rating on Spanish debt. The move came shortly after the agency had also warned that France can no longer be guaranteed its coveted triple-A status.

Schaeuble, German Finance Minister, warns markets not to expect any miracle cure

18 October 2011
Confidence tumbled on Monday after the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, warned markets not to expect any miracle cure when EU leaders next meet on October 23rd.

Eurozone politicians with just over a week to deliver on their promises

17 October 2011
The euro ended an impressive week on Friday by notching multi-week highs against a host of rivals including the US dollar and yen. The most recent stock market rally duly advanced and investors piled back into risky assets on hopes eurozone leaders could put an end to the long running fiscal crisis by as early as next week.

G20 leaders gather in Paris to dissect the eurozone’s plan to solve the continent’s debt troubles

14 October 2011
Anxiety in markets is growing after rating agency Standard & Poor’s delivered another downgrade to Spain’s credit rating. Additionally, the European Central Bank has again been forced to intervene in bond markets in order to protect Italy.

Euro maintains more bullish tone on Wednesday

13 October 2011
The euro maintained its more bullish tone on Wednesday, underpinned by hopefulness that eurozone leaders are closing in on a grand plan to solve the continents debt crisis.

Ratings agencies continue their relentless scrutiny of debt management

12 October 2011
Unusually, there were no significant shifts in currency markets on Tuesday as market players paused following some erratic trading sessions over the past week.

Germany and France’s new anti-crisis measures see stock markets across the globe soar

11 October 2011
Volatile shifts in sentiment remain as the theme in financial markets after Monday produced another explosive days trading. Stock markets across the globe soared while traders took the euro, and other currencies associated with risk higher at a record pace.

Euro zone developments have again shifted market sentiment from one extreme to another

10 October 2011
Friday’s blockbuster non-farm payrolls data release lived up to expectations and this time returned a much better than expected measure of US employment prospects.

BoE catches investors off-guard

7 October 2011
The Bank of England delivered a stunning £75b increase in its quantitative easing programme on Thursday. The surprise announcement, which took the central bank’s asset buying scheme to a total of £275b, caught most investors off-guard who had predicted a smaller injection of £50b in November.

Risk appetite edges slightly higher after European officials finally appear to be coming together

6 October 2011
Risk appetite edged marginally higher on Wednesday after European officials finally appear to be coming together. Germany backed calls from the International Monetary Fund to offer banks more support should they need it...

Contagion unofficially spreads from Greece into Italy

5 October 2011
The euro zone debt crisis moved up a gear on Tuesday as contagion unofficially spread from Greece into Italy and the European banking sector. As stock markets across Europe declined further, authorities stepped in to help prevent a run on Dexia Bank, one of the largest commercial lenders in Belgium.

Europe moves one step closer to catastrophe

4 October 2011
Stock indices plunged deeper into the red on Monday as investors accelerated risk adverse behaviour at an alarming pace. Upbeat manufacturing performance figures from the UK and US economies did little to lift the gloom as Europe moved one step closer to catastrophe.

Are euro zone policy makers falling too far behind the curve?

3 October 2011
Sterling finally edged higher against the broadly under pressure euro on Friday as investors fret that euro zone policy makers are falling too far behind the curve in dealing with the debt crisis.