Major currencies spent much of last week in a tight range ahead of next week’s US elections. Attention in the coming days will be on the latest polls and policy meetings from the European Central Bank and Bank of England.

The euro rallied this morning following a better-than-expected set of PMI data. Sterling also looks set to end the week higher as Brexit talks get back under way.

Upbeat comments from chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier supported the pound yesterday, as did a report from Bloomberg suggesting that talks between the EU and UK will resume in the coming days.

Our payments spotlight series turns to Portugal. The Portuguese economy has seen many challenges since the 1999 Euro launch and is now facing the impact of a possible 2nd spike of Covid-19 cases. Our payments specialist, John Moran, takes us through the journey and what lessons from the past might now be worth heeding.

At Ebury we still see clients fall victim to scams. As scams can be difficult to recognise, we want to do our part to raise awareness and help keep our clients safe.

The dollar bounced back last week as markets grew increasingly confident of a Democrat clean sweep at next month's US presidential election.

The US dollar has outperformed so far this week, as investors flock to the safe-havens amid a tightening in virus restrictions across the European continent.

November’s US Presidential Election is expected to be the major event risk in the currency markets between now and the end of the year.