Friday started slowly for the Pound although it did edge higher following the release of the latest GDP figures. The data showed that the economy had grown at a rate that was faster than expected during Q4 of 2020.
Despite this, the gains were limited as it reported that the UK economy had seen an annual slump that was the worst on record. According to the Foreign Exchange Market, the Pound finished Friday at 1.1422 against the Euro and 1.3844 against the US Dollar.
It was a defensive end to the week for the Euro as the negative correlation with the US Dollar caused it to weaken after the US Dollar rebounded. Once again, the single currency was also suffering because of the lack of progress with the vaccine rollout across the Eurozone, making it likely that lockdowns will be in place for longer.
There was good news for the US Dollar as it made a recovery on Friday as it followed the growth in Treasury yields while market sentiment also took a downturn. However, the gains were short-lived after the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in lower than expected.