In what is likely to be the first in a week full of big moves, the pound shot higher on the latest Brexit speculation.
It appears that sterling is clinging onto the somewhat disputed reports that Theresa May is set to travel to Strasbourg this Monday in order to meet with Jean-Claude Juncker and finalise some kind of Brexit deal, one that would presumably then be presented to Parliament on Tuesday.
While nothing is confirmed – the root of the rumour is a comment from Ireland’s deputy prime minister – it was enough to get the pound excited. Against the dollar it was up half a percent, propelling cable above $1.308 having fallen below $1.30 earlier in the session, while against the euro it added 0.6% to cross €1.164.
The FTSE was a victim of the pound’s shaky optimism. The UK index’s gains were reduced to around a fifth of what they were at their peak, rising a paltry 10 points to lurk around 7125. In contrast the DAX was buoyed by the euro’s losses, jumping 0.5% to climb past 11500, the German bourse also benefiting from Deutsche Bank’s 5% surge on news of merger talks with Commerzbank (DE:CBKG).
As for the Dow Jones, it avoided the 150 point fall forecast by the futures, instead rising 90 points to near 25550. That Boeing (NYSE:BA) only(!) dropped 7% against the 10% drop initially expected helped out the index, with the airline plunging on the grounding of its 737 MAX 8s in the aftermath of the weekend’s Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.
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