FX markets traded relatively flat on Monday with little data or news to give currencies direction. This morning, the Greenback is on the front foot, making strong advances against the Euro and Sterling. On the data front, key German Inflation numbers and a speech from ECB President Christine Lagarde will be the Euro’s focus today and will likely invoke some price-action. Inflation Rate for Germany will be released at 13:00 and is forecasted to come in at 2.3%, while having a previous of 2.5%. From the US, at 15:00 the all-important CB Consumer Confidence for June is published. With a previous of 117.2, many are hoping it can surpass its forecast of 119.
After slipping below the 1.3894 handle yesterday, Cable is struggling as it finds itself just above the 1.3850 mark this morning. GBPUSD opened on Monday at 1.3894 and closed at 1.3891.
GBPEUR had an uneventful session on Monday, seeing little price action on the day. The pair opened the week at 1.1651 and closed the session at 1.1648.
EURUSD also traded flat over the day – opening at 1.1925 and closing at 1.1926.
As the Delta variant of COVID-19 becomes more rampant, Hong Kong have taken measures to ban all incoming passenger flights from the UK. The UK is now classified by Hong Kong as an “extremely high-risk” country. Yesterday the UK recorded over “22,000 cases of COVID-19, with the majority being the Delta variant which originated in India”. It is strong possibility that over countries will follow in banning UK travellers from visiting. Last week Angela Merkel urged EU Leaders to make all travellers from the UK quarantine wherever they arrive in the EU. The German Chancellor noted that “in our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that's not the case in every European country, and that's what I would like to see”.
