Restriction easing go ahead gives GBP lift

By Ashley Finill

This week has been an eventful one the currency market with the rates reacting to the go ahead of easing restrictions in the UK from the 17th of May. Sterling gained nearly a cent on the Euro throughout the week’s trading presenting Euro buyers with a great opportunity to secure a good rate to what was nearly an 8 week high but the high’s were short lived as yesterday saw a bit of dip against the Euro. The easing of restrictions though has brought some optimism amongst investors of the pound due to Boris’s roadmap staying on a good course, in the next 3 weeks we could see further restrictions lifted in the UK which again would give Sterling a much needed boost to get to the highs seen back in March.

With that could bring the lighting system to travel destinations into action with many of you/us hoping to see a change to green for the destination of your dream home overseas. Currently Portugal is the only property purchasing hotspot open to holiday makers and as such has seen a influx of people booking trips. France, Spain, Cyprus and Greece along with many other are still on a red light with cases rising in those areas. With lockdowns still in place throughout said countries the government is hopeful that if cases begin to fall that a ban can be lifted in the coming weeks, a much welcomed approach for all.

Data due out today

Today there is only a couple bits of notable data coming out from the US, at 1.30pm retail sales figures will be posted. The figure is expected to make a contraction from last months figure of 6.9% expected to come in at around 0.8%. This will be a good indication on how the US’s economy is fairing during the pandemic with US citizen unable to shop in some areas of the country. Later at 3pm Michigan Consumer Sentiment will be released. Next week there will be a raft of key data to look out for which has the potential to shake up the rates, key notable releases being unemployment rate in the UK and GDP from the EU on Tuesday, CPI figures from both the UK and the EU on Wednesday and to finish off the week is retail sales in the UK.