The British pound is flat against the US dollar on Thursday.
The dollar gained as Donald Trump signalled he had brokered a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut oil production, potentially by as much as 10% of global output.
Pound versus US dollar was down by 8 pips (-0.06%) to 1.2369 with a daily range of 1.2352 to 1.2475 as of 5pm GMT.
GBP/USD made another failed attempt to get up above 1.25, only getting as high as 1.246 before dipping back below 1.24 to be roughly even on the day. Week-to-date losses are now -0.67%.
British pound stalls again at 1.25 to dollar
The pound continues to make strides against other global currencies but has stalled for another day at the key 1.25 level amid a broadly stronger US dollar. Having fallen to 35-year lows last month, some investors seem to think the currency is below its intrinsic value and are buying in.
UK coronavirus deaths rose to 2,921 from 2,352 for the biggest gain so far. The statistics keep worsening and offer no explanation for the moves in Sterling.
The only data point from the UK was a rise in House price reported by Nationwide that was largely ignored by currency markets as out of date. Only can only assume home transactions have ground to a near complete standstill.
Dollar jumps alongside surge in oil prices
The dollar responded positively to the news that the US President may have gone some way to save the Shale oil industry from complete devastation. Shale oil companies cannot make money at $20 per barrel, almost no oil producers can. Oil prices surged 25% on Thursday on hopes for supply cuts.
The biggest data release for the day was US jobless claims. First time claims for unemployment insurance in the United States surged to a massive new record of over 6.6 million in one week. US initial jobless claims were 6648K vs an estimate of 3700K. California alone lost 692K jobs while New York fared better with 286K new claims but that might be a matter of data collection.
