The British pound is higher against the euro on Friday.

The British pound was holding up alongside wider market sentiment in the face of a historic US jobs report that saw over 20 million Americans lose their job in one month.

The euro continues to muddle along as investors try to wrap their heads around the implications of the German court ruling on the ECB’s stimulus package.

GBP/EUR was higher by 64 pips (+0.56%) to 1.1471 as of 2pm GMT.

The currency pair moved above 1.14 in early trading and tested it as support twice before moving up through 1.145 in the afternoon. Yesterday the exchange rate fell -0.2% but it is up on the week by +0.61%.

GBP: Market sentiment holds up despite record US job losses

The US jobs report was the main event of the day effecting market sentiment, where a positive mood tends to benefit Sterling more than the euro. US Non-farm payrolls came in at -20.5M, which was better than the -22 million expected, but still easily the worst US jobs loss ever recorded in one month.

The US now has an unemployment rate of 14% compared to 4% in March. The news was largely baked in and the reaction in currency markets was minimal. Markets are taking the view that the data in April could be almost anything because it does not represent the true economic situation.

EUR: European court fires back

The European Court of Justice today got involved in the rift between the German constitutional court and the European Central Bank, saying it alone can rule than an EU institution has broken EU law.

European institutions are defending their territory as one might expect. ECB President Christine Lagarde said in a polite reference to the ruling that “There should be no unique constraints on ECB policy response.”

However the German ruling does represent a major challenge. Former German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble put the risk of the ruling very succinctly, saying “It is very possible the existence of the euro is now put into question. Every national constitutional court can decide for itself.”