020 7898 0500Sterling dipped a little against the US dollar and euro yesterday as traders braced themselves for Prime Minister Theresa May’s keynote Brexit speech on Friday. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s recent article in The Telegraph repeated the widely derided £350 million figure for the NHS, which led to calls for him to be sacked. In response to questions, May said that ‘Boris is Boris’, which sounds faintly reminiscent of her ‘Brexit means Brexit’ soundbite.
Meanwhile, Bank of England Governor Carney delivered a speech in Washington in which he repeated the idea that UK interest rates would have to rise, albeit in a slightly more dovish tone that appeared to be the case last week.
Today is a quiet day for UK economic data, but tomorrow sees the release of retail sales. Attention will mainly be on the US Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday and May’s aforementioned speech on Friday. Investors will be looking for clues on whether the UK is heading towards a hard or soft Brexit.
