The euro pound exchange rate (GBP/EUR) is moving at the beginning of the week after losses of -0.2% compared to last week. Parity was set on Friday at 1,0976 euros. At 05:15 UTC, the GBP/EUR pair is quoted at 1,0975 euros.
The pound largely increased thanks to the hopes of British vaccines and the uptick in retail sales in the following week. On Friday, knowledge showed that general retail sales in the UK had returned to a similar point to the pre-coronavirus pandemic after two consecutive months of growth. In June, retail sales increased 13.9% from the following month, joining a 12% increase in May.
Brexit has delayed the call to the pound, as recent negotiations have failed to show much progress. That said, UK Brexit Secretary David Frost informed Tory MPs that the UK would achieve about 60% of its targets in an industry agreement with the EU. Private insurance comes after the two negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, threw bloodless water in a Brexit industry deal at the end of last week’s talks.
Concerns about a wave of coronavirus infections in Spain were ignored across the euro on Monday. The number of instances has the largest in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain seeks to stay ahead of the epidemic that has led the UK to reimpose quarantine to travellers returning from the country. This is an additional blow to Spain, which suffered severely the first wave of coronavirus infections and whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism.
The United Kingdom, as well as Norway and France, have announced quarantine measures and travel warnings for those travelling to and from Spain and, in particular, from the Catalonia region. This will almost in fact make long-term reserves during the peak travel era for Spain, whose tourism industry accounts for 10% of GDP.
The German IFO business confidence index on knowledge is expected to continue to show signs of improvement that may be just the euro.