⁍ Sterling climbed back toward pre-pandemic highs and was advancing towards a five-month peak hit last week versus the greenback.

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⁍ Sterling has had a strong recovery against the dollar in the past few weeks.

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⁍ It registered its biggest monthly rise in more than a decade in July.

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– If you’re looking for a safe place to park your money while the H1N1 outbreak in the US drags on, the British pound is your best bet. The British currency rose as much as 0.6% against the dollar to $1.3150 on Wednesday, its highest level against the dollar in five months, per Reuters, though it was down 0.1% against the euro at 90.40 pence. The dollar was also lower against other major currencies, as was the yield on the US 10-year bond, which fell to 2.90%, its lowest level in more than a year, per the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Congress and the White House are negotiating a new bill to extend unemployment benefits for people affected by the H1N1 virus, though a deadline to do so was missed on Friday. “It’s all about the dollar,” a BMO Financial Group analyst says. “Congress has not been able to pass an aggressive fiscal stimulus package for the last month or so and you can roughly trace the beginning of the dollar fall to that.”