Maybe a NOOB question? GBP/USD is currently massively correlated to stock market. Is this normal?

Hey guys,

Currently owe China around $100,000 dollars from import so watching the USD very closely over the past week or so. It is so closely related to the large index funds and the stock market as a whole. Can anyone shine a light as to why? If the stock market goes up - so does the strength of the £ to the dollar. If the stock markets goes down - so does GBP/USD. I can’t figure out why.

Cheers!

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It is hard to decipher correlation between currency markets and stock markets. There are some general rules such as when the GBP weakens against the USD the FTSE 100 tends to rise. However, in general, the two markets can respond to the same events in very different ways.

I would think so too but over the past week with all the ups and downs the correlation has been absolutely on point. Could just be a huge coincidence though I don’t know

In this environment things are moving because of confidence. Any currency (bar the USD) will tend to rise along with stock markets at the moment on any slight good news. However, these are unusual times.

The dollar gets stronger in every global crisis. It’s seen as safe haven. So if there’s a little good news, the dollar weakens again

Not necessarily it depends on what is causing the crisis etc. again these are all general rules rather than assured events.

It’s pretty much consesus that this is what happens in a global crisis. Ask any economist or look at the history of financial crisis’. :man_shrugging:

Usually the exchange rate and stock market are (weakly) inversely correlated - this especially true of the FTSE 100 and the £ because many FTSE companies earn overseas so if the pound falls the number of pounds earned abroad will go up. At the moment investors are looking for safe haven currencies and the dollar is the big safe haven - Swiss Franc can be too. The pound has been tanking because the UK is not seen as a stable economy at the moment because of the macroeconomic uncertainty of Brexit, still lurking in the background.