Euro gained a small amount of ground against sterling today, following better-than-expected economic data in from the Eurozone. Meanwhile, Margaritis Schinas has confirmed a further meeting in the Brexit negotiations, and the markets will be watching closely for indications of positive developments.
The focus today will be on those Brexit talks, between Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator, Stephen Barclay, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, and Geoffrey Cox, Attorney-General. Barnier has seemingly indicated further guarantees to help push the Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament, although the Telegraph has since reported that Barclay has all but given up.
Whether there will or won’t be a press conference has yet to be confirmed, but, even without one, they will be scrutinised closely for hints of what lies ahead – and could have a significant impact on the GBP/EUR exchange rate.
On the economic releases front, industrial producer price inflation came in at 3%, more or less within expectation – just 0.1% higher and unchanged from December’s seven-month low. This morning, the Markit composite and services PMI both came in just above expectations, at 51.9 and 52.8 respectively. However, they are both still a number of points below this time last year, but trends are currently pointing upwards.
