Today's news headlines: 

‘Scientists warn against June lifting of all Covid restrictions in England’. The UK government appears to be at a cross-roads. With England just three weeks away from all coronavirus restrictions being eased, the Indian variant could pose a real issue. Almost three quarters of daily infections are from this new variant—said to be much more transmissible than previous ones— with infections rising exponentially in the community. Vaccines look to be moderately effective at protecting against this strain, ranging from 60-88% protection with two doses, but only 33% with one. The push to be fully inoculated has therefore been strongly advised by the government, to ensure lockdown easing is not derailed. (Financial Times)

‘Global economy will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, says OECD’. Despite economies around the world struggling due to the pandemic, growth levels could bounce back sooner than most expected, according to the OECD. Global output looks set to rise 5.8% this year, much higher than the 4.2% predicted back in December. If growth reaches 4.4% in 2022 most areas will have returned to pre-covid levels of growth. However, it is expected the rebuild will be uneven with those countries reliant on tourism expected to take much longer for a full recovery. (Financial Times)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• A busy day for data with the US publishing PMI stats later today. Cable continues to trade well above $1.42 after Friday’s bounce. Elsewhere, oil has nudged above $70 a barrel in early trading ahead of the OPEC meetings today.

Today's events

Australia Interest Rate: 0.10% vs 0.10% last month
UK Nationwide HPI m/m: 1.8% vs 2.3% last month
German final Manufacturing PMI: 8:55am
Canada GDP m/m: 1:30pm
US ISM Manufacturing PMI: 3:00pm
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey Speaks: 4:00pm
FOMC Member Lael Brainard: 7:00pm
OPEC-JMMC Meetings: All day

Interbank rates

GBP/USD: 1.4230
GBP/EUR: 1.1635
EUR/USD: 1.2227
USD/CAD: 1.2051

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