The British Pound edged higher and moved away from the recently struck 4-week trough after it was reported that Ireland intends to support the Prime Minister's proposal with the European Union. Analysts say that the support from Dublin may help the British government overcome one of the stumbling blocks to a Brexit deal, namely the “backstop” agreement regarding the Irish borders. While the Irish government is still holding out hope for a better option, they do appear to be amenable to accepting one of the proposals provided there are no alternatives.
As reported at 11:22 am (BST) in London, the GBP/USD was trading higher at $1.30, up 0.25% and just off the session peak of $1.301. The EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8857 Pence, down 0.08%; the pair has ranged from a low of 0.88530 Pence to a high of 0.88760 Pence.
NFP in Focus
With a relatively slow fundamental news day today, markets will turn their focus to tomorrow's release of the Non-Farms Payroll Report for September. The latest poll of economists shows a drop in the figures to 185,000 new jobs, down from 201,000 in August. It is predicted that the unemployment rate will also fall to 3.8% from 3.9%. More importantly for the US worker, average hourly earnings are expected to decline to 2.8% from 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. The pair most likely to be impacted after news of this report is released is the EUR/USD which is currently trading at $1.1498, up 0.14%