Forex news from the European morning session - 11 March 2019
Headlines:
- UK PM spokesman: Brexit meaningful vote will take place tomorrow
- Brexit: European Commission says will remain in close contact with the UK this week
- Brexit: May said to be issuing a written statement later today
- Yvette Cooper: Would force parliament to vote on Brexit delay if government doesn't keep their word
- Ireland's Varadkar: It is too late for the UK to tell the EU what it wants
- Brexit: May said to be likely to change tomorrow's vote from meaningful to provisional vote
- Saudi Arabia said to extend deeper-than-agreed oil cuts into April
- Germany January trade balance €14.5 billion vs €15.2 billion expected
- Germany January industrial production -0.8% vs +0.5% m/m expected
- Brexit talks said to remain deadlocked - UK official
- German government said to now expect 2019 GDP growth of 0.8% - report
- More from Coeure: ECB is 'adjusting to the new reality'
- ECB's Coeure: Italy is only Eurozone country in technical recession
- ECB's Coeure: Italy is the only Eurozone country that is not growing
Markets:
- EUR leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities a little higher; E-minis up 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 2 bps to 2.65%
- Gold down 0.3% to $1,294.90
- WTI up 0.7% to $56.45
- Bitcoin down 0.1% to $3,864
It's a morning devoured by Brexit headlines as we get closer towards a meaningful - possibly now provisional - vote on May's Brexit deal tomorrow. The pound began the session on the back foot and experienced some see-saw price action as headlines trickled in.
Cable rose to 1.3010 from 1.2980-90 levels earlier on before slipping back to 1.2970 as May is said to be planning to change tomorrow's vote from a meaningful one to a provisional one instead.
The pound then recovered further ground on hopes that parliament is still seen wrestling some control back from the government via votes on Wednesday and Thursday. That saw cable come back up to 1.3010 before falling back to 1.2990 and now returning back above the 1.3000 handle as the government insists that they will hold a meaningful vote tomorrow.
Other major currencies had a more subdued session with little direction to really work with. US equity futures were mostly flat and European stocks are mainly playing catch up to Friday's price action.
That didn't help USD/JPY as the pair moved between 111.10-20 levels throughout the European morning. EUR/USD stayed a little underpinned but sits around flat levels at 1.1240-50 and even commodity currencies are barely changed on the day, stuck around a 20+ pips range against the dollar.
Looking ahead, US retail sales will be the main highlight in North American trading and that's due at 1230 GMT. Aside from that, be on the look out for May's written statement and the UK government's Brexit motion as that will be the next catalyst for pound movement today.