After a strong start to the week, sterling weakened slightly against the euro yesterday afternoon whilst remaining in a good position against the dollar.
The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI was revised lower to 53.3 in July 2020, from the preliminary estimate of 53.6 and compared to June’s final reading of 50.1. The latest PMI pointed to the strongest pace of expansion in the manufacturing sector since March 2019.
It’s thought that the pound will continue to mainly be driven by Brexit news. The markets will be focusing on the Bank of England’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday, but the pound could remain relatively subdued unless there are any big surprises.
Holiday company, Hays Travel, which bought the shops of Thomas Cook last October, has said up to 878 employees out of 4,500 may lose their jobs because of new coronavirus travel restrictions.
