With little else to focus on investors turned their attention to Theresa May’s most recent bout of Tory turbulence, much to the pound’s displeasure.
The Prime Minister is dealing with the umpteenth swell of dissent over the state of her leadership, while at the same time having to try and quash the latest beef between her warring ministers, this round sparked by leaked Whatsapp messages from climate change minister Claire Perry calling Brexit voters ‘swivel-eyed’.
Add onto that the Lords constitution committee labelling the EU withdrawal bill as ‘fundamentally flawed’ just one day before the legislation is set to be debated, alongside a warning from EU leaders that the UK is ‘not ready’ to secure a divorce deal, and there was plenty for the previously soaring pound to fret about.
Cable dropped 0.6%, sending sterling back under $1.41, while against the euro, the pound fell 0.4% to hit a sub-$1.135 one week low. This in turn sent the FTSE 20 points higher, though the UK index is still stuck the wrong side of 7700.
Turning to this afternoon and the Dow Jones is set for a slow open, with the futures having the index dip 30 points when the bell rings on Wall Street, taking it back below 26600. Whether or not those changes may be down to how the dollar reacts to the latest core PCE price index reading; the inflation metric, which is a favourite of the Fed (which meets mid-week) is expected to rise from 0.1% to 0.2%.
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