Euro is up against the pound this morning, profiting from the latter’s downward movement ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate announcement. Italian consumer and business confidence figures have come in positively this morning. German consumer confidence showed a small increase, despite market expectations of a slight drop. Today, the European Parliament will vote on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, which it is expected to pass.
Tomorrow, in addition to announcements in the UK, we will see a number of important figures for the eurozone as a whole, including business and consumer confidence, and industrial and services sentiment. There will also be a number of important speeches from key figures in Germany’s Bundesbank.
The European Central Bank has announced that six eurozone banks have ‘fallen short’ of capital requirements, and, if they don’t improve, could see tighter controls implemented.
The UK is leaving the European Union in less than three days, although there is a transition period ahead. While much of the focus has been on the impact to Britain, observers have also begun to highlight the potential damage to the Eurozone, which could face €47 billion worth of tariffs without a trade agreement – another factor to add to the uncertainty coming up. Germany, Bloomberg reports, could face €18.8 billion alone. Ireland, a much smaller economy, could face €1.6 billion. The most affected sectors would be cars, textiles and clothing, pork, poultry, cheese and ceramics.
