Sterling was mostly flat yesterday, but is choppy against both the euro and the dollar this morning. MPs continued to debate the Withdrawal Agreement and voted down three amendments – the Lucas amendment, the Dubs amendment (tabled by Labour), and the DUP amendment. The Withdrawal Bill is expected to comfortably pass through the House of Commons today before moving to the House of Lords.
The Prime Minister also faced his first PMQ’s of the year, where he called for “urgent de-escalation” of the Iran crisis. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned the legality of the drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump.
Boris Johnson also met with Ursula von der Leyen to begin discussions about a future trade deal with the EU. Speaking ahead of talks, von der Leyen said that it would be “impossible” to reach a comprehensive trade deal by December 2020.
Labour productivity in the UK, as measured by output per hour, increased 0.4% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to September 2019, compared to a preliminary estimate of 0.3% growth and the previous period’s 0.2% drop. This comes after a year of contraction.
Today, Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, will make one of his last speeches before stepping down. Any comments which suggest that an interest rate cut could happen may cause the pound to react.
