The pound went from wary to worried this Friday, as investors fretted over the Brexit difficulties that lie ahead.
Time to think isthe last thing sterling needs at the moment. Whenever UK investors have a spare second, thoughts tend to turn to the loud tick of the Brexit bomb. And even with the progress seen in the last couple of weeks – and the prospect of the EU formally agreeing to move on to the next phase of negotiations this Friday – there’s still not a lot for the pound to actually be thankful for.
So, with little else to act as a distraction, sterling slipped 0.2% against the dollar and 0.3% against the euro, causing the currency to shed some of the growth the currency has seen since Wednesday. This in turn helped the FTSE ease its own US-inspired losses, with the UK index now down just 0.2% (but still the wrong side of 7450). The eurozone indices weren’t as lucky, with the DAX and CAC falling 0.4% and 0.6% respectively.
The main cause for the European losses was the (admittedly mild) drop seen by the Dow Jones on Thursday. With Marco Rubio potentially pulling his support for the Republican tax bill over an issue with child tax credits the market-boosting ‘reforms’ might be in jeopardy, news that took the Dow back below 24600. However, the US index is still looking at a fairly decent open; the futures have the Dow rising 60 points after the bell, leaving it only had a handful of points away from that recently abandoned landmark level.
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