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The British pound retreated Tuesday with the U.K. rolling out new restrictions on activity in response to rising coronavirus cases.
The pound GBPUSD, +0.00% traded at $1.2756 vs. $1.2815 on Monday.
Ahead of Boris Johnson’s address to parliament, the prime minister’s office said starting Thursday, pubs, bars and other hospitality venues in England will be restricted to table service only and will have to close at 10 p.m. Michael Gove, minister for the Cabinet Office, said Brits would be encouraged, but not forced, to work from home.
Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey separately said the monetary policy committee “looked hard” at the potential to cut rates further, and reiterated a pledge not to hike interest rates until there’s “very significant progress” on achieving its 2% inflation target.
The FTSE 100 UKX, -0.03% did advance, gaining 0.5% after Monday’s 3.4% retreat, which was the worst since June 11.
Whitbread WTB, -3.65%, the Premier Inn owner, fell 4% as it said it would cut up to 6,000 jobs, or 18% of its workforce. Second-quarter ending Aug. 27 like-for-like sales slumped 75%.
U.K. insurers including Direct Line Insurance DLG, -5.07% and RSA Insurance RSA, -3.73% dropped after the Financial Conduct Authority proposed that when a customer renews their home or motor insurance policy, they pay no more than they would if they were new to their provider through the same sales channel, stamping out a practice called “price walking.”
