020 7898 0500Until the afternoon, the major talking point was the stock market rally, which saw the FTSE 100 jump by more than 100 points and Wall Street opening higher too. Facebook shares bounced back, which helped the markets rally. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the FTSE 100 started the month over 7,500 points, so it is still down overall.
But then came some Brexit-related news and everything else was blown out of the water…at least for a bit. The pound rallied against the dollar and euro following reports that a Brexit deal will be finalised within three weeks. Some MPs were quick to point out that this is far from certain at the moment and the pound fell back a little, but all in all it ended up being a pretty good day for the pound.
The only piece of economic data on the schedule yesterday was the Gfk consumer confidence reading for October which came in as expected at -10. This was a drop from -9 the previous month and was largely brought about because of how British consumers feel about the economy in light of Brexit uncertainty. Perhaps the reading will be much improved next month – especially if what Dominic Raab says proves to be true.
The Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision later today and, while it is more or less certain that rates will be kept on hold this time around, it will be interesting to see what policymakers say about future economic policy. They will no doubt be asked about Brexit and one wonders whether yesterday’s news will have a bearing on their response.
