An emergency interest rate cut from the Bank of England sent the Pound lower against the common currency Euro but maintained some 
traction versus the US Dollar. The BoE announced its new benchmark lending rate at 0.25%, a reduction of 50 basis points and twice as much as markets had been expecting. This is the first emergency rate cut issued by the BoE in over a decade and comes in response to the growing concerns over the global economic consequences of the Coronavirus. Most of the world’s major central banks and their respective governments are working in tandem to address the potential fallout to the epidemic.
As of 10:05 am in London, the EUR/GBP was trading lower at 0.8735 Pence, a loss of 0.29% and moving off the session trough of 0.87142 Pence. The GBP/USD was higher at $1.2949, up 0.499%; the pair has ranged from a high of $1.29775 to a low of $1.28248 in this trading day. The GBP/JPY was trading at 135.802 Yen, up 0.0361% and off the session peak of 136.652 Yen.
Economic data from the UK released earlier today by the Office of National Statistics shows that the UK economy contracted in January (on a month-over-month basis) with a GDP reading of 0.0% against an expected decline to 0.2% (from 0.3% in the previous reading). Data from the US will be released later today, with personal inflation figures likely to impact the greenback. Currently, economists are predicting that Core CPI will be flat for the month of March both on a year-over-year and month-over-month basis. February’s overall CPI is expected to fall to 2.2% (annualized), from 2.5%.