By Nigel Hodges, Currency Solutions

The first half of 2008 came to its conclusion last week as most of North America spent the week celebrating Canada's 141st birthday and US independence, while Andy Murray completed his transformation in the media from plucky British superstar to useless Scottish loser within the space of three days.

With a short week and a deluge of data releases, the week really flew by like a Rafael Nadal forehand.

Away from Wimbledon and ignoring the shameful events in Zimbabwe, the week's big story was the European Central Bank's meeting on Thursday.

Traders had been concerned about a hike in European interest rates, when a rise was all but guaranteed following a surge in EU inflation that pushed up food and energy costs by 4.0%.