The FTSE climbed 10 points after the bell, keeping it smack bang in the middle of the trading bracket the index has floated around in since it was propelled to its current levels by a dose of Trumptimism a few weeks ago. The pound, meanwhile, clawed its way back above 1.22 against the dollar with a 0.4% rise, and took the same amount off of the euro, just about lifting sterling away from the 8-ish week lows struck last Friday.
The economic calendar is pretty empty this Monday, meaning Theresa May’s attempts to trigger Article 50 could provide the backbone of the UK’s trading as the day goes on. The Prime Minister is currently trying to remove the amendments voted for by the House of Lords – if successful the official Brexit starting gun could be fired as early as tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see how much the pound reacts to the news if it is indeed activated on Tuesday: on one hand the currency knows it is coming; on the other, Britain is far from in the best place to begin negotiations.
Over in the Eurozone the DAX and CAC were pretty flat as the week got underway, nudging 5 points higher and 10 points lower respectively. The euro has given back some of the ground it acquired in the aftermath of Mario Draghi’s relatively hawkish address last Thursday, losing more of its headway against the pound than the dollar.
