The Pound Sterling edged higher as FX traders await a Parliamentary meeting which could decide the fate of the Prime Minister's Brexit hopes. The Parliament is due to reconvene later this week and on its agenda will be Ms. May's withdrawal plan for the Brexit which will occur, plan or no plan, on March 28th. Currency strategists foresee the next fortnight as highly volatile for the Pound up until the January 15th vote. Despite some recent good news on the UK economy, concerns over the Brexit have eclipsed pretty much everything else. Some analysts don't believe that Ms. May's chances for pushing her proposal through are any better now than they were a few weeks ago when she postponed the vote.
As reported at 11:33 am (GMT) in London, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.2736, a gain of 0.07% and off the session peak of $1.2765; the low for the trading day was set at $1.2717, making this a very tight trading band. The EUR/GBP was trading at 0.8977 Pence, up 0.22%; the pair has ranged from 0.89520 Pence to 0.89880 Pence.
Traders Look to Friday Data
For the Pound, an absence of any major fundamental data until Friday will mean that Brexit worries will continue to drive sentiment. On Friday, the UK's Office of National Statistics will be releasing GDP data for the month of November (month-over-month); as of today, analysts are putting that figure at 0.1%, essentially unchanged. Also that day, there will be releases of the UK's productivity output figures for the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Any positive news in the mix is likely to give the Pound a knee-jerk reaction, but analysts say it is likely to be a very brief response.