Sound Pound For The Weekend

The pound rallied strongly after yesterday’s (Thursday) rate cut. This is the opposite of what normally happens, as lower rates mean that money is transferred out of a currency.

However the reason behind this is that the market assumed the bank of England would say more about quantitative easing - i.e. printing money. The Bank shied away from this, pushing the likelihood of this out by a few months.

The markets like this, printing money is a move of a very bankrupt country - see Zimbabwe, USA etc. Not the sort of thing the Pound should be associated with.

On the downside, we have deflation now, so if we were ever going to print money, now is the time. if we don’t ever do it, well and good. If ‘QE’ happens in 6 months, when the worst of the deleveraging is over, then we will get 1970’s style stagflation.

Don’t be led by all the talking heads on TV and in the newspapers. Vince Cable on Newsnight was particularly bad last night, he is only feted because Osborne and Darling refuse to speak on Newsnight. QE is a bad idea but if taken is medicine for the worst of the fever, which is now. Not in a few months time….

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