The pound strengthened against both the euro and US dollar by nearly 0.3% in early trading yesterday but lost those gains in the afternoon and it starts Tuesday roughly where it began the week.
Prompting the reversal in sterling’s fortunes yesterday were increased travel rules on the British, with Spain, Portugal and Malta all imposing quarantines on British travellers. Despite the restrictions not applying for those who are double vaccinated – which most Britons are – shares in British travel companies fell by 3 to 5%, dragging the pound down with it.
On the other hand, Facebook won an anti-trust court case in the US and saw its value jump by around 4% to over $1 trillion.
In the UK, the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he is confident that lockdown measures will be removed on 19 July as planned. The numbers of cases are rising fast – to over 16,000 on average – but with fatalities down to roughly one per thousand the feeling is that the NHS will be able to cope.
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