The pound experienced a strong day yesterday, managing to end the day on a welcome high. Today, UK unemployment data from the ONS has revealed that the number of UK workers on payrolls fell by 730,000 between March and July. It also revealed that 81,000 jobs were lost last month, in large part due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Hence, today’s data releases may provide enough momentum to drive the GBP/EUR cross out of its recent range. “
George Vessey, UK Currency Strategist at Western Union Business Solutions explained that this week is critical in terms of date coming out of the UK.
He said: “It’s a big week for UK data this week with eyes on British Retail Consortium retail sales and labour market data on Tuesday and manufacturing and industrial production on Wednesday along with monthly GDP figures and the second quarter GDP results.
“Focus will likely be on the bounce back in economic output for June to get a feel for the recovery speed in the UK.
“The British Pound has performed well against many of its currency peers over recent weeks, particularly the US Dollar.
“However, last week ended a weekly winning streak as GBP/USD fell over 100 pips towards the critical $1.30 handle.
“GBP/EUR once again remained unperturbed on the day, lingering beneath the €1.11 threshold.
“With the plethora of data due this week, Sterling traders will be keeping a closer eye on the results of the June GDP figure to gauge how well the UK economy is faring after lockdown.
“A surprise to the upside could add fuel to sterling’s recent positive run.
“This time two weeks ago GBP/USD opened around $1.27.
“Several technical signals point towards an overall positive bias for sterling, but whether the August curse can be broken is still up for question.
“GBP/USD’s August performance since 2000 shows it has fallen in 14 of the past 20 years, or 70 percent of the time, and at time of writing the currency pair is down 0.2 percent month-to-date.”
The Post Office Travel Money is currently offering rates of €1.0673 for amounts of £400 or more, €1.0828 for amounts of £500 or more, and €1.0884 for £1,000 or more.