It was a quiet day across the markets yesterday, with the pound trading in a tight range throughout.
Following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s proposed injection this week of £30bn into the economy, mostly to soften the expected blow to the jobs market, reaction has so far been muted. However, should it achieve its goal of minimising the negative economic impact of the covid crisis, the pressure on the Bank of England to provide further monetary stimulus could lessen. The expectation that the BoE will have to announce further measures to support the economy before year-end, potentially cutting interest rates to 0% or below, is a major weight on sterling, along with Brexit.
With those Brexit talks ongoing this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the EU must prepare for a no-deal scenario.
There are no economic releases to end the week in the UK.
GBPUSD opened at 1.2642, closing at 1.2618
GBPEUR opened at 1.1156 and closed at 1.1172
The US dollar held firm yesterday, as a decline in US stocks supported the greenback’s safe-haven appeal for investors, following a surge in new coronavirus cases and a Supreme Court ruling on President Trump’s financial records.
The Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, that a New York prosecutor can obtain Trump’s financial records, caused yields and stocks to fall and heightened risk among investors that it may not end well. That sentiment also remains fuelled by the renewed surge in covid cases following the easing of lockdown restrictions.
The dollar index rose 0.4% to 96.816, after dropping to a four-week low of 96.233.
Once again, there is nothing to report from the eurozone, with the single currency yesterday losing some ground to a risk-driven dollar and falling back below the 1.13 level..
EURUSD opened at 1.1332 and closed at 1.1294
This afternoon sees the release of Canadian unemployment data. Significant deviation from expectations could impact the dollar.