Yesterday

• Theresa May told fellow Conservative MPs that she would step down as Prime Minister if her deal passes in a third meaningful vote.
  • The Prime Minister said she heard the mood of the party clearly and that she would step down after the new Brexit date of 22nd May should MPs vote her deal through Parliament in order for a new leader to take forward the second phase of negotiations with the European Union.
  • This was enough for some MPs who has previously voted against her deal to do a U-turn. Notably, Boris Johnson who had resigned from the Cabinet as he could not back May’s deal – and had been heavily critical of it – will now vote in favour of the deal.
  • To get the deal through, the Government need their DUP allies to vote for the deal but last night, DUP leader Arlene Foster said that her party’s MPs would still vote against the deal as they “cannot sign up to something would damage the union”. She clarified that progress had been made on domestic legislation however the necessary changes to the backstop had not been made in the view of the DUP.
• MPs in the House of Commons had their chance to come to a consensus in regards to what type of withdrawal agreement they would like to agree with the EU in a series of indicative votes yesterday. They voted on 8 proposed ways forward which could have helped pave a way out of the current Brexit deadlock but none of the alternative plans achieved a majority.
• The closest to getting approval had been put forward by Father of the House Kenneth Clarke which involved a customs union with the EU but that plan was voted out by 272 ‘noes’ to 264 ‘ayes’.
• There were calls by some for a general election to create a new House of Commons with the potential to overcome the impasse.
• GBP/EUR opened at 1.1713 and traded a high of 1.1785 before closing at 1.1696 representing a 0.15% decrease on the day.
• GBP/USD opened at 1.3207, traded a high of 1.3269, a low of 1.3166 and closed at 1.3187.
• Canadian trade balance came in weaker than expected at -4.2B vs -3.5B expected.

Overnight

• ANZ business confidence from New Zealand came in at -38.0.
• GBP/AUD, GBP/NZD and GBP/JPY are currently trading at 1.8560 (-0.29%), 1.9328 (-0.39%) and 145.21 (-0.37%), respectively.

Today

• Efforts to persuade MPs to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal are set to continue today.

US Final GDP q/q data is expected at 12:30.

 

MAJOR CURRENCY PAIRS
Current at time of distribution

Currency Pair	Interbank Rate	% Change on Day
GBP/EUR	1.1687	-0.08
GBP/USD	1.3152	-0.26
EUR/USD	1.1255	+0.11
AUD/USD	0.7092	+0.11

 

Time (GMT)	Region	Data Release	Forecast	Previous
12:30	USD	Final GDP q/q	2.4%	2.6%

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