The pound is strong against the euro and steady against the dollar this morning. The U.S. Federal Reserve launched another programme to pump more dollars into the world economy, which in turn benefits the UK’s sizeable financial services sector and has eased pressure on sterling.
PMI data released yesterday showed that the UK manufacturing sector has fallen into contraction territory as expected, slumping to its lowest since July 2012.
After Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, urged firms not to pay large bonuses and dividends if they take official help, several major banks announced yesterday that they will scrap dividend payments until the end of the year. The Bank of England said that this will help support the economy throughout 2020.
During the government’s daily press briefing yesterday, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said that over 390 million pieces of PPE equipment have been delivered for the NHS.
