The pound is looking weak against the dollar and choppy against the euro this morning. Sterling made some gains against the euro yesterday and earlier today, benefitting from the political tensions in Italy. However, Brexit uncertainty ensured that any strength was minimal.
Reports that Ireland will not renegotiate the Brexit backstop at a meeting with Prime Minister Johnson later this month kept sterling low. It is thought that Irish leader Leo Varadkar and Johnson will meet before the G7 summit in France, which is due to take place from the 24th of August.
President Trump’s National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has said that the UK is “first in line” for a trade deal with the US. His comments came after meeting the Prime Minister at Number 10 yesterday. He added, “We want to move very quickly. We wish we could have moved further along in this with the prior government.”
Today a flurry of economic data will be released for the UK, including unemployment figures and labour productivity. Better-than-expected data could see the pound inch higher, and could also decrease chances of the Bank of England cutting interest rates next month.
