020 7898 0500For the first part of Thursday sterling made gains and reversed Wednesday’s losses against the US dollar (USD). With very little information coming out of the UK, the main prompt for this movement was dollar based. President-Elect Trump’s first press conference in six months on Wednesday evening had been short on policy details but long on his personal life, his dealings with Russia and his business interests. As he answered the questions from the press, investors were disappointed and the dollar weakened against the pound.
But sterling faces its own battles with uncertainty and those fears were revived late yesterday. The judgement from the Supreme Court on whether Mrs May has to gain the consent of MPs before triggering Article 50 to leave the European Union (EU) is earmarked for next Wednesday. Sterling gave up its gains as it was announced that next Tuesday Theresa May will make a major speech on Brexit. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said that her speech will set out “more on our approach to Brexit” and will be “in line with our approach of a global Britain and continuing to be an outward looking nation.”
Looking ahead to the final trading session of the week, we have the Bank of England (BoE) Credit Conditions Survey. This will give the market an idea of spending and confidence, and ultimately the willingness of financial institutions to lend.
