Home Daily Commentaries Bank of England comments boost the pound

Bank of England comments boost the pound

Daily Currency Update

GBP - British PoundSterling has ticked higher in the past 24 hours, but with little local data to drive it. Comments from Bank of England’s Haskel helped the pound advance with him stating that retail sales and spending more broadly appear to be recovering from their April lows, and we now expect Q2 as a whole will not be quite as negative.US employment data disappointed yesterday afternoon as the number of employed people month-on-month fell short of forecast - 2369k versus 2850k target. This doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the eagerly anticipated employment change numbers expected today (3037k forecast) which many had hoped would come in better than expected, showing that the US labour market was healing relatively quickly. GBP/USD has tested 1.2500 this morning on this news and GBP/EUR has made a break for 1.1100 a few times overnight, falling short at 1.1093.As mentioned, US hold the data headlines today as a plethora of employment figures are released. The two key releases for GBP/USD will be non-farm employment change and the unemployment rate. Depending on the outcome, we are likely to see volatility for this currency pair.

Key Movers

isk sentiment has been boosted by a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, which was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials. The 45 people that participated in the trial, which included placebos, saw a V-shaped recovery. Welcome news for the global economy that continues to tackle the virus and get back on its feet. This improved risk appetite has seen investors and traders sell their safe haven currencies and take a cautionary look at riskier assets. This can be seen in AUD and NZD gains against a basket of safe havens, such as the USD, overnight.

Expected Ranges

  • GBP/USD: 1.2410 - 1.2590 ▲
  • GBP/EUR: 1.1030 - 1.1150 ▲
  • GBP/AUD: 1.8010 - 1.8150 ▲
  • GBP/NZD: 1.9150 - 1.9320 ▲
  • GBP/CAD: 1.6940 - 1.7090 ▲