Following comments from the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey that suggested that monetary tightening is still some way off, trading was somewhat mixed through the final session of the week last week. Despite this, there were some gains in the GBP/ USD rates as this rose to 1.3351, the highest seen this year while the pound rounded off the week at 1.1215 against the Euro according to the Foreign Exchange Market. The performance of the currency today will depend on the manufacturing PMI for August.
As more European countries introduced more coronavirus restrictions, the Euro found itself on the defensive. Germany was one of the main countries making changes after it told people not to travel to high-risk countries while it was made clear that the virus is circulating in the country again. Through the session today, the focus will be on the latest CPI figures.
There was a mixture of fortunes for the US Dollar on Friday after concerns over the Federal Reserve’s policy shift was met by some hopeful USD data releases. Spending was higher than expected during July as well as personal income, indicating that the US economic recovery was not being hugely impacted by the resurgence in coronavirus cases.