The Pound remains weak. Overview for 21.12.2021

GBPUSD remains under pressure amid global COVID-related concerns. 

The British Pound remains rather weak against the USD. The current quote for the instrument is 1.3212.

The coronavirus pandemic is still against the British currency. The number of new cases in the United Kingdom is increasing, the mayor of London declared a “Major incident” in the city. There is an opinion that the United Kingdom may follow the example of the Netherlands and be the next country to announce lockdown for the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

All this is not good for the Pound’s future. social restrictions may hurt business sentiment, hence industrial production and retail sales.  

The BoE’s rate hike is already included in the Pound price. It’s important to understand that the rate hike was a rather critical measure for the British regulator – as a rule, the BoE is very conservative and never rushes to interfere using monetary mechanisms. 

According to the data published yesterday, the CBI Industrial Order Expectations dropped to 24 points in December after being 26 points the month before. Probably, businesses and manufacturers have already statured to reduce their business activity.