The pound is stronger against the euro and the dollar this morning due to positivity surrounding Brexit negotiations. Ahead of the ninth round of negotiations, which begins next week, there have been reports that the EU is open to a “thin” Brexit deal and are optimistic that a deal can be established.
Sterling was firm against the euro and dollar yesterday as Rishi Sunak unveiled his new jobs support scheme, which will replace the furlough scheme which ends in October.
The new scheme will begin on the 1st of November, as is designed to top up the wages of those who cannot work full time. It’s hoped that this will stop the mass job cuts that had been predicted in October. Despite this, Sunak said that unemployment would rise.
Sterling also felt the pressure as Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, did not exclude the possibility of negative interest rates.
Consumer confidence figures for the UK were released overnight, showing an improvement to -25 in September from -27 in the previous month. This shows that consumers are more positive about the state of the UK economy for the next 12 months, despite the introduction of more lockdown measures.
