News that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital has sent the Pound lower at the start of the new week. The Pound versus Swedish Krona exchange rate is trending lower on Monday, after rallying 1.4% across the previous week, in its third straight week of gains.
At 06:45 UTC, GBP/SEK is trading -0.5% at 12.4565, after opening the week at 12.4799.
Consumer Confidences Plunges
Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital with persistent coronavirus symptoms. The hospitalisation of the UK Prime Minister has unnerved Pound investors. His condition is stable.
Adding to the bad news at the start of the week, UK consumer confidence has plummeted by the most ever recorded in the GFK survey’s 45-year history. The shutting down of the UK economy as hammered household’s financial outlook, hitting morale.
Attention could now shift towards UK construction activity data. Analysts are expecting activity in the sector to contract to 46 in March, down from 52.6 in the previous month, as the impact of coronavirus lock down starts to show through.
The data comes after the manufacturing and service sector pmi’s both revealed a record fall in March.
EUR: Sweden’s Death Toll Starts To Climb
The Krona lost ground across the previous week as investors grew increasingly concerned over the relaxed approach of the Swedish government towards the coronavirus. The most recent data suggests that they were right to be concerned as there are signs that the death rate in Sweden is growing faster than anywhere else in Scandinavia.
Whilst countries across Europe have locked down, Sweden has kept schools, restaurants and cafes have remained open. However, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has warned there could be thousands of coronavirus deaths, with the crisis likely to drag on for weeks rather than months.
The number of Swedish deaths rose by 12% on Saturday to 373. The rate per million is 36, the highest in Scandinavia.
Sweden keeping its economy open isn’t expected to prevent it from experiencing an economic contraction. With the rest of the word on lock down, avoiding a recession is close to impossible for exporter nation Sweden. Some economists predict -8% contraction this year. This would be a deeper recession than in 2008/9.
