Home Daily Commentaries Covid-19 cases soar in Florida

Covid-19 cases soar in Florida

Daily Currency Update

GBP - British PoundGBP/USD is down a touch but remains above the 1.26 handle this morning as the death toll from Coronavirus continues to fall and more and more UK business' continue to reopen. 21 deaths and 650 new cases were confirmed yesterday which compared to some other geographies represents significant progress in containing the disease. After Rishi Sunak's announcement of extra stimulus to support the economy, the pound has traded around the 1.26 handle as the spending splurge and expectations of more in the Autumn bolster sterling, despite the Brexit background noise being mixed at best.Tomorrow sees UK GDP figures for May-June which should hopefully show a decent rebound in the UK economy as it emerged from lock down. A rise of 5% is eyed after the previous m/m -20.4% collapse. This week also sees inflation figures printed as well as a couple of speeches from Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey. GBP/EUR trades at 1.1150.

Key Movers

Coronavius cases continue to surge in Southern states of the US with Florida recording a new unwanted record of 15k cases on Saturday. The national figure was 66k, another record, as the virus' continued spread finally forced President Donald Trump to wear a face mask after months of showing unwillingness to do so. Globally there are now nearly 13m confirmed cases with 3.3m of those being in the US. 135k people have died in the States, nearly twice the next most affected country, Brazil, which has seen around 72k fatalities. Despite these rising numbers stock markets are higher around the world as expectations build of another round of stimulus from the US and EU build in an effort to shore up a ravaged global economy. This week we have central bank policy decisions from Canada and the ECB with no change in rates predicted. We also have Chinese GDP numbers on Wednesday night with Q2 expected to show a modest rebound of 2.2% following Q1's -6.8% drop. EUR/USD trades at 1.1308 with USD/JPY at 107.08

Expected Ranges

  • GBP/USD: 1.2550 - 1.2670 ▼
  • GBP/EUR: 1.11 - 1.1210 ▼
  • GBP/AUD: 1.8060 - 1.8150 ▼
  • GBP/NZD: 1.9140 - 1.9280 ▼
  • GBP/CAD: 1.7070 - 1.7210 ▼