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The European Central Bank will hold its latest monetary policy meeting today. Whilst policy is expected to remain unchanged, the markets will be looking out for any comments from ECB officials.
President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, is likely to speak on Europe’s recovery from the pandemic and how long intensified monetary support will need to continue for.
The pound is trading around the same levels against the euro and is slightly stronger against the dollar this morning, after falling due to a drop in the global markets yesterday. This fall came about due to rising COVID-19 cases in India and Japan. India has recorded a new daily record for COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours.
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GBP: Pound stronger against dollar
The pound is trading around the same levels against the euro and is slightly stronger against the dollar this morning, after weakening yesterday due to a fall in the global markets.
In a speech yesterday, the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, spoke about event to increase the diversity of the Bank’s contacts within the financial sector. He announced that the BoE will open a Northern hub and said, “as a public institution, we need to represent the diversity of the country in what we look like, who we talk to and the impact of our decisions.”
This morning, CBI industrial trends order figures for April will be released, which shows the level of factory orders from 500 companies across 38 sectors of the manufacturing industry. The figure is expected to be in positive territory due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
GBP/USD chart
EUR: Euro awaits ECB meeting today
The euro is strong against the dollar this morning ahead of the European Central Bank’s latest monetary policy meeting, which will take place later today.
The bank is expected to maintain its current policy and keep interest rates on hold. However, any comments from the central bank about the economic outlook or suggestions of tapering bond purchases could have an impact on the euro. Despite this, it’s likely that officials will still be acutely aware that ongoing lockdowns are hampering economic recovery in the Eurozone.
The meeting will be followed by consumer confidence figures for April, which are expected to stay the same as March.
USD: Dollar continues to weaken
The dollar is still weak against a basket of currencies due to treasury yields, which have been falling after spiking to their highest in more than a year last month. The greenback is likely to look the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week for direction.
Jobless claims figures and existing home sales data are due to be released for the US later today. Initial jobless claims are forecasted to rise slightly after dropping to their lowest level since the pandemic at the beginning of April.
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