After a strong start to the month, the pound weakened against both the euro and the dollar yesterday. Dollar strength, Brexit uncertainty and worries about the UK economy have caught up with sterling.
A decline in the global markets has also caused the pound to weaken, confirming that sterling tends to move in tandem with broader sentiment. The decline was led mainly by the tech sector, due to concerns that stocks had become overvalued.
Ahead of official negotiations which begin on Monday, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michele Barnier, said that he was “worried and disappointed” that the UK had not changed their stance on major sticking points. He also went on to say that the UK “will have to move” if it wants to leave the Brexit transition period with a deal.
Both Services and Composite PMI figures for August were revised slightly lower from their preliminary estimates, but still showed an improvement in July. Today, Construction PMI will be released for the UK.
