Mario Draghi used his ECB press conference to warn of financial unease in the event of a no-deal Brexit. One of the most striking points he made concerned the fact that businesses will have to start rolling out their contingency plans if no developments are forthcoming. Business owners will be hoping there is no need for them to put contingency plans in place, but at the same time, they can’t wait until it’s too late.
The euro made some gains against the pound, which continues to weaken across the board at the moment, but it slid against the dollar. The greenback is enjoying a good time at present – and Trump’s warnings to the Fed appear to have fallen on deaf ears; traders clearly believe that a rate hike will happen in December and there will be further hikes in 2019. Speaking of which, Draghi spoke strongly about the importance of central bank independence and that politicians needed to protect this.
The German Ifo business climate for October was released yesterday and came in at 102.8 from 103.7 the previous month. Analysts had expected the figure to be a little bit better at 103. Today we have the German Gfk consumer confidence reading for November. The figure is expected to dip a little, from 10.6 in October to 10.5.
