The US Dollar was strong going into the weekend after data about solid jobs gave treasury a boost to treasury yields. This was strengthened by several Fed speakers spreading the word that rates would remain high for an extended period. 

Despite this news, the Australian Dollar dropped to its lowest since the pandemic reaching under 0.635, making it the worst-performing major currency to date. APAC equity markets followed suit, all worried about the global growth outlook and finishing in the red. 

Sterling has levelled out from its plummeting spiral after a surprise announcement from the Bank of England to increase its temporary gilt market purchase program from a daily limit of 5 billion GBP to 10 billion GBP. It is also offering excessive liquidity to the market ahead of the gilt buying deadline on Friday. This boosted the GBP/USD exchange rate towards 1.1100.

The struggling Euro continued to lose value against the mighty dollar to $0.97 and is heading for a 20-year low that it hit on 27th Sep at $0.95. This remains as fears of a European recession seem more likely as the year heads towards its final quarter. With its third month of retail sales falling dramatically, the ECB is expected to hike interest rates over the next three months as winter looms ahead of a likely worsening energy crisis. 

The good news is that American tourists are getting lower rates on goods for their European vacations. 

“The exchange rate right now is ridiculous,” Charlie Leocha, chairman of Travelers United, an advocacy group, told CNBC in a recent interview. “It makes everything in Europe that used to be expensive not that expensive.”