Forex Today: Weekend headlines drive Brexit anxiety as early markets get hung up
In forex today, early market action has seen itself largely toe-dragging in thin Monday flows with broader investor sentiment completely hung up on a steady flow of Brexit headlines from the UK, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May is in a race against the clock to try and achieve a workable Brexit deal (or at the very least, a suitable can-kick) before her own Tory party can finish scraping together the internal support needed to cast May down in a no-confidence vote.
Monday is shaping up to be a Brexit-focus day after the slow bleed of negative Brexit headlines continued through the weekend and into early Monday trading hours, with unverifiable sources reporting that the UK's Tory party now holds up to 42 (of the 48 needed) signed letters within their own parliament in order to swing a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Theresa May, who is fighting tooth-and-nail to deliver a concession-heavy Brexit deal to the parliament floor for a vote that will almost surely see the measure fail on May's own homefront, with Brexiteers calling for a broad-base no vote on whatever plans May brings forth, with Eurosceptics likely emboldened by Scottish PM Sturgeon's late-day call that the House of Commons should not endorse May's Brexit deal.
The broader market is fairly slack with a thinned-out economic calendar slated for Monday's action, and the upcoming sessions are likely to see continued emphasis placed not only on Brexit headlines, but the ongoing EU-Italy government budget squabble, and the US-China trade war zone, with the US' Vice President reaffirming the Trump government's intention to "more than double" tariffs on China, bringing their base tariff rate up to 25% across the board, despite a recent thawing in talks.
Key notes from the early session:
Over the weekend: Trade tensions back on the rise, Brexit set for another lap
Scotland's Sturgoen: parliament should not endorse May's Brexit deal - Reuters
UK PM May: intense week of Brexit talks ahead - Reuters