After a week of the dollar weakening against the major currencies, the greenback gained some ground back as the Covid unrest in China pushed investors into safe havens. The Covid unrest comes after their ‘zero cases’ lockdown rules sparked mass protests, something rarely seen in China after a tower block fire killed 10 people and was blamed on residents not being able to escape quickly enough because of lockdown security issues.
The World Trade organization say that Global trade has shrunk from 100 down to 96.2 as export orders weaken and demand for container shipments and air freight drops.
GBPUSD fell to around 1.1920 from 1.2140 last week, whilst EURUSD fell a little less from 1.0496 last week to around 1.0365 . However overnight Beijing have announced they will step up rolling out vaccines to the elderly which has boosted the demand for riskier assets and GBPUSD rose to around 1.2030 this morning.
The BOE do not usually comment on NHS waiting lists however the UK avoided big job losses at the height of the pandemic but, since Covid-19 lockdowns lifted the number of people of working age who are economically inactive who are neither working nor looking for a job, has risen by more than 630,000 since 2019 and this does not look like recovering anytime soon. This has not necessarily been driven by long term physical health issues which have not been treated due to long wait times at Hospitals, but can be contributed to mental health issues too.
There is no key data today however two BOE policymakers are speaking, the notable one is Andrew Bailey at 3pm today. The ECB’s Isabel Schnabel is also speaking at 13.30.
GBPUSD currently resides at 1.1990
GBPEUR currently resides at 1.1570
EURUSD currently resides at 1.0356
