An interview with Jacob Rees-Mogg appeared to be responsible for the pound perking up on Wednesday morning.
The ERG chair said that it is ‘very, very difficult’ to see the UK leaving the EU without a deal, and that, in his opinion, the choice is breaking down to May’s deal or no Brexit. The pound would take either option, especially the latter, with the comments briefly sending the currency 0.3% higher against both the dollar and the euro before pulling back slightly.
This meant that the FTSE couldn’t whole-heartedly join in with the rebound seen elsewhere. While the UK index added 10 or so point, causing it to knock on the door of 7200, the DAX overcame its initial 0.4% decline to rise 0.2%. The best of the bunch was the CAC, surging 0.6% despite the worst French industrial confidence figure since November 2016.
Turning to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is expected to start the US session with a bang, the futures pointing to a 160 point, 25700-teasing open. As for the day’s data, the CB consumer confidence reading – set to nudge up from 131.4 to 132.1 month-on-month – could change things a bit later on.
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