The British pound is higher against the euro on Wednesday.
The euro was feeling the pinch from a stronger US dollar, with EUR/USD falling back below the key 1.10 level on Wednesday. An extension of the lockdown in Germany and Italy added to the pessimism toward the single currency.
The pound is looking through an increasingly desperate domestic situation where a multi-billion pound airline bailout could be in the works.
Pound versus Euro was higher by 81 pips (+0.74%) to 1.1338 with a daily range of 1.1220 to 1.1383 as of 5pm GMT.
GBP/EUR rallied from below 1.1250 to a new 9-day high above 1.135 to give it a week-to-date gain of 1.4%.
British pound gains despite rising death toll
The gains come despite the worst virus prognostications that the UK is set to repeat the experience of Italy and Spain beginning to look true. The UK death rate is starting to look very Italian or Spanish. Deaths in the UK have risen by 563 in one day, taking the total to 2352, that’s a rise of 31%. The number of cases jumped by 17.2%, when the rise yesterday was 13.6%.
Euro hit as Spain coronavirus cases top 100,000
Europe’s biggest economy has so avoided the worst of the coronavirus spread in Europe but its economy won’t be spared the same kind of lockdown measures.
Germany will extend its nationwide lockdown until April 19. The country seems to be coping well compared with other European nations but that is probably more a function of time than anything else. If the UK experience is something to go by, then Germany is probably a week behind in both death toll and cases.
Spain reached another undesirable milestone of over 100,000 coronavirus cases as well its deadliest day yet with an extra 864 deaths. Italy too, having avoiding the commitment to do so for a few days has now said it will continue is lockdown until April 13 despite rising social unrest, particularly in the poorer south where there has not been as many cases.
