Good morning,
With little to go on by way of data or dramatic shifts in opinion polls, sterling has seemingly halted its rise of recent weeks and instead ground down to little more than a sideways shuffle. Whilst in this holding pattern, traders will likely exchange between the recent highs and lows as they await significant polling data to release momentum. As mentioned yesterday, these ranges are around 1.1650 to 1.1730 on the Euro and 1.2840 to 1.2975 on the dollar.
As we await the release of the Labour and Conservative manifestos and pollster’s analysis when they do release, the pound is experiencing some of its weakest daily trading flows in recent memory – it is neither here, nor there.
In the USA, Chinese and American trade delegations continued to disagree on the final terms for “phase one” of the bilateral talks aimed at removing some of the hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs between the two. Although China’s Vice Premier Liu He announced he was “cautiously optimistic” about concluding a deal for a reduction before the end of 2019; including loosening control of capital markets and enforcing intellectual property laws, some US domestic demands proved too much for any agreement to be made in earnest.
The Fed minutes released yesterday also passed without much comment with most members agreeing on the current state of play. Not such great news for Trump’s cheap dollar, export-led dream; but good news for USD holders in the midterm on the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Have a great day.
Author: Joshua Haden-Jones, Senior Relationship Manager