British Pound, Brexit, Yen, US Dollar – Speaking Points:
- British pound UK, EU extend Brexit talks
- Risk resistance US dollar and Japanese yen broadly lower majors
- Pfizer / Bioentech Govt Vaccine Rolling, Financial Incentive Talks
The British pound is set to start the week on a high note in the hope that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula van der Leyen will reach a last-minute agreement to continue the Brexit talks. It was previously expected that negotiators would abandon efforts to reach a compromise if a deal could not be secured over the weekend, as time was running out before the end of the year.
A joint statement from the two leaders said that despite the long way to go and many more obstacles, it was “responsible to go the extra mile at this point”. To that end, both sides “ordered our negotiators to continue negotiations and see if an agreement can be reached even at this late stage.” The anti-risk Japanese yen and US dollar fell as markets rallied on news.
In hindsight, the economic calendar provides a relatively sluggish aid to the event risk planned at the beginning of the trading week. Bank of Japan releases fourth quarter edition of Tongan Business Confidence Survey The sentiment of large and small companies is expected to improve for the second consecutive period from the coveted-inspired declines set in the second quarter, but will remain in negative territory overall.
This leaves the broader risk appetite trends for setting a timeline close to the financial markets. With the exception of Brexit, traders are likely to focus on the start of covid vaccine distribution in the United States, where the Pfizer-Bioendech version is set to launch shipping on Monday. The two sides also visited the fate of the US $ 908 billion fiscal stimulus bill. It is not yet clear whether there are enough votes to pass both chambers of Congress.
Recommended by Ilya Spivak
Improve your business with IG Client Sentiment data
FX Trading Resources
— Written by Ilya Spivak, APAC strategist, head of DailyFX.com
To contact Ilya, use the comments section below or Ly Iliaspivak On Twitter