By Grace Smyth
This week we could see the Pound come under pressure as its has been reported that the UK Government are ‘open’ to delay lifting covid restrictions on the 21st June and issuing a two week delay could be on the cards, taking us to the 5th of July. This has come after covid cases seem to be back on the rise once more.
Travel guidance has also changed with Portugal who had originally been on the Green list now changing to Amber, forcing many UK holidaymakers who are already in Portugal to drop their plans of days on the beach to making a mad dash back to the airport to get themselves home in time to avoid quarantine on their return, and those with plans to go over to cancel and go through the nightmare of claiming refunds.
On Friday, the USD fell against the Pound and the Euro following disappointing figures for Non-Farm Payrolls. Although figures were better than the previous month of April, May’s figure failed to meet expectations, posting 559K jobs created rather than the 650K expected, giving those with a Dollar requirement a nice boost to take advantage of.
Exchange rates this morning seem to be unaffected by the news of an extensions to restrictions just now, and its likely sentiment will continue to dictate which direction exchange rates might turn. There is a strong possibility the markets might just continue to follow the recent trend of a flat market until it is known for sure what avenue the government will take and what the possible effects will be on consumer confidence by extending the lockdown in the UK.
Although today is pretty mute in terms of data releases, the week ahead has a fair amount to be keeping an eye on.
Tuesday
10:00 EUR Employment Change & GDP
13:30 USD Goods and Services Trade Balance
13:30 CAD International Merchandise Trade
Wednesday
15:00 CAD BoC Rate Statement and Interest Rate decision.
Thursday
12:45 EUR Interest Rate Decision
13:05 GBP BoE’s Haldane Speech
13:30 USD Consumer Price Index & Jobless Claims
13:30 EUR ECB Monetary Policy Statement and Press Conference
Friday
07:00 GBP Manufacturing & Industrial Production, GDP
15:00 USD Consumer Sentiment Index
As ever, If you have an upcoming currency requirement and you are concerned about which direction exchange rates might take, talk to one of our friendly team today and discuss how we can help mitigate the risk for you and manage your transfers over the coming months.