EU Council says some parts of the Brexit draft have already been agreed in principle

Some comments on the Brexit draft withdrawal agreement by the European Council

• Says that some parts of the draft agreement has been agreed by Barnier and Raab
• But that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed"

I believe that pretty much sums up where we're at now. The EU certainly is optimistic about certain things but the last comment says it all. Without a deal that encompasses everything - including the Irish backstop/border - then agreeing on everything else doesn't really matter.

They also made similar comments last week in saying that about 70-80% of a deal is done. But as I said then, if the 20% includes the Irish backstop/border, then that outweighs whatever else they can agree upon because that is the ultimate stumbling block.

The pound is continuing to push higher on the day against the dollar and the yen though. US 10-year yields have jumped up higher to 3.013% now (session highs) and GBP/JPY has moved to 147.15 while GBP/USD is now up to 1.3130.