IFX Market Report: Friday 12th March 2021

The Euro was able to make modest gains yesterday as the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged but promised to accelerate the pace of its bond buying programme. EURUSD was able to peak at the 1.1990 mark in the session and GBPEUR had its first daily loss of the week. Capping the Euros gains was the disappointing news that three European countries suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in a “precautionary” move following the death of a Danish woman who died of blood clots following inoculation. Despite this, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has stated “there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine… the vaccine's benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing”.

After surpassing the 1.39 mark in Wednesday’s session, Cable was able to gain more upside on Thursday. GBPUSD opened at 1.3937 and closed the day at 1.3969.

GBPEUR saw a minor pull back on Thursday as the pair opened at 1.1682 and closed at 1.1680. Despite the Single Currency’s show of strength today, if the Eurozone vaccine effort falters further it is guaranteed we will see Euro weakness.

EURUSD almost reached the 1.20 handle but met strong resistance at 1.1990 and was unable to go beyond that mark. The pair opened at 1.1930 and closed at 1.1959.

On the data front there are an abundance of UK releases this morning. Kicking off we have UK GDP, expected at -2.5% with a previous of 1%. Following that, Balance of Trade, Construction Output, Goods Trade Balance, Industrial Production and Manufacturing Production. Then in the afternoon from the U.S. we have the Michigan Consumer Sentiment at 15:00, forecasted to come in at 78.5.