EUR GBP Advances but Tuesday Sees Economic Data

The EURGBP exchange rate was higher by 0.20% on Monday, but the pair is still weighed near the recent lows. Today will see UK employment data for October, alongside the latest ZEW economic survey for the Eurozone and Germany. The UK jobs figures are for October and will miss the Plan B restrictions and Omicron variant, while traders may look beyond any positive sentiment in the European outlook as risks loom.

The EUR to GBP rate was trading at 0.8354 as traders await the data.

Omicron is ‘turning around’ in the UK, according to latest data

The continued fall in the UK virus case numbers indicates that the Omicron wave may well be “turning around”, a leading expert advising the Government said.

Prof Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, said that the latest case figures were “cautiously good news” and he hoped the country may have a “flu-type” relationship with the virus by the end of the year.

Prof Tim Spector, who leads the ZOE COVID Symptom Study, also said Omicron was “disappearing” fast across the UK, except the North East.

“Zoe shows Omicron cases disappearing fast all over the U.K. except NEast – down from peak of 208000 to 155000 per day so still high but looking good.”

The North-East is reporting the highest case numbers in the UK, with almost double the case rates of London.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said it was “looking positive” and he was “confident” the country can start to ditch the larger Plan B restrictions from next Wednesday.

Mr Zahawi told BBC Breakfast: “The numbers are looking positive. I’m confident that when we review this we’ll be in a much better place to lift some of these restrictions.

The European single currency is being weighed by the fact that governments are going the opposite way and becoming more authoritarian with mandates and fines, which could lead to further unrest.

Report shows increasing Chinese ownership of Europe

New data shows that Europe is increasingly seeing its assets move into Chinese ownership.

A third of the bloc’s assets are now in the hands of foreign-owned companies, 9.5 percent of which had their ownership based in China, Hong Kong or Macau, up from 2.5 percent in 2007.

This rise comes as US and Canadian interests see a decline with 29 percent at the end of 2016, down from 42 percent in 2007.

The amount of Chinese direct investment in the EU has been rising rapidly, peaking at €37.2billion in 2016.

A large proportion of this investmen, is concentrated in the major economies such as France and Germany, according to the Rhodium Group and Mercator Institute.

Between 2000 and 2018, data shows that China had invested €25billion in Germany, with France and Italy seeing around €15 billion.

Analysts at Bloomberg previously said that China now owned, or had a stake in, four airports, six maritime ports and 13 professional football teams in Europe.

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Source: https://www.eurorateforecast.com/2022/01/eur-gbp-advances-but-tuesday-sees-economic-data/