money-bank-notes-euro

The British pound is flat against the euro on Thursday.

Risk appetite has been on the wane fueled by fears of a second wave of virus infections and weak economic data and that has dented demand for Sterling.

The euro was caught in the middle of mixed consumer price inflation stats from Germany and Spain.

Pound versus euro was lower by 9 pips (+0.07%) to 1.1294 as of 3pm GMT.

GBP/EUR spent the day chopping around 1.13, a level that has held up price declines several times as it traded in a horizontal trading range this month.

Yesterday the exchange rate rose just +0.03% and it is -1.30% so far this week.

GBP: Nearly 3 million more Americans file jobless claims

There was a slight downward tilt to the pound as stock markets traded in the red amid growing concerns of a drawn out economic recovery from the pandemic. Another multi-million increase in US weekly jobless claims added to nerves.

The US department of Labour said 2.98 million Americans applied for jobless insurance for the first time in the last week, above the 2.5 million expected.

Yesterday Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that more monetary stimulus will likely be needed in the United States to fend off the economic damage done by virus and policies aimed at containing it. Powell’s warning comes on top of early signs of a second wave of new virus cases and warnings from multiple health experts and doctors that reopening economies too soon only exacerbates the risk that it happens.

EUR: German and Spain inflation mixed

Inflation stats from Germany and Spain were a mixed bag but the euro has found some resilience in Germany’s infection R-rate dropping back below 1.0 yesterday.

The April crash in oil prices skewed the month-over-month change in the headline inflation numbers, dragging them lower. In Germany year-over-year changes in consumer prices were above expectations but producer prices undershot as factories closed and sold goods at a discount before lockdown.

In Spain, one of the economies worst hit by the pandemic, prices went deeper into deflation with a reading of -0.7% y/y versus 0.6% prior.