A quiet Monday – don’t worry, things get' busy from Tuesday onwards – meaning investors have been forced to focus on the latest round of events undermining Theresa May’s premiership.
There’s a lot for May to fret about at the moment. She could be facing defeat on part of her Brexit Bill later in the week, with Tory Remainers likely to team up with Labour to try and secure Parliament a meaningful vote on any deal with the EU, something the PM is keen to avoid.
There’s also threats from Michel Barnier – who stated at the weekend the EU was preparing for a ‘no deal’ scenario – that if Britain doesn’t spell out how far it intends to ‘honour its obligations’ within the next two weeks then any trade talks will have to be ‘put back’.
Finally, there’s the leaked ‘Orwellian’ letter from Michael Gove and Boris Johnson – back to scheming after last year’s Tory leadership falling out – to May, with the prominent Leaver MPs outlining a series of secret Brexit demands.
Combine all this with the recent departures of Michael Fallon and Priti Patel, and May is arguably in her weakest position since just after the election. That uncertainty has been reflected in the pound’s performance after the bell; cable plunged 0.7%, wiping out a chunk of last week’s recovery to leave the pound back below $1.31, while against the euro, sterling is down 0.6% and is sitting the wrong side of €1.125. This has helped send the FTSE 0.4% higher, but even then the UK index is around 40 points away from the 7500 level if abandoned last week.
Disclaimer: Spreadex provides an execution only service and the comments above do not constitute (or should not be construed as constituting) investment advice or recommendations, or a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. Any person placing trades based on their interpretations of the above comments does so entirely at their own risk. Spreadex Ltd is a financial and sports spread betting and sports fixed odds betting firm, which specialises in the personal service and credit area. Founded in 1999, Spreadex is recognised as one of the longest established spread betting firms in the industry with a strong reputation for its high level of customer service and account management.
In relation to spread betting, Spreadex Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. It may not be suitable for everyone, so please ensure you fully understand the risks involved. In relation to fixed odds, Spreadex Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission under licence number.