Bank of England Stands Ready to Act again but Keeps Rates on Hold for Now

The unemployment rate may have risen to its highest level for five years this last week after nearly half a million people were said by the government to have applied for welfare payments in the nine days to Wednesday, underlining the threat posed to the economy by coronavirus containment efforts.

Inflation ticked lower in February thanks to a fall in energy and food price growth, according to Office of National Statistics data released Wednesday, but it's tipped by economists for steep falls in the months ahead as the coronavirus impact shows up in economic data.

The FTSE 100 trades lower on Thursday as a sharp recovery that saw two consecutive days of gains fades, suggesting a central bank-fuelled rally might have run its course for now.

The impact of the global coronavirus pandemic is expected to see the U.S. economy shrink 17.7% in the second quarter of 2020 and lead to a surge in unemployment, according to economists at independent research house TS Lombard.

The gold price was trading near to multi-year highs on Thursday but has been forecast to rise another 12% before year-end as the coronavirus response of the Federal Reserve (Fed) and other central banks stokes debasement fears and demand for the “currency of last resort”. 

CLS has reported a surge in activity in global foreign exchange markets in February 2020, a development that appears linked to the increase in market turmoil triggered by the global spread of the coronavirus pandemic.