With the failures in Parliament stacking up against her, the Prime Minister is expected to request a brief delay to the looming Brexit deadline. Though the postponement request was not unexpected by investors, the uncertainty that it will generate as to the future of UK trade has sent the Pound lower. Analysts say that there now appear to be four likely outcomes, a longer delay, acceptance of the Prime Minister's proposal, a hard crash out of the European Union, or another voter referendum.
As reported at 11:37 am (GMT) in London, the GBP/USD pair was trading at $1.322, down 0.358%; the pair has ranged from a trough of $1.3212 to a peak of $1.3273. The EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8583 Pence, a gain of 0.3684, and moving near to the session peak of 0.85885 Pence.
Brexit Delay Seen as Best Option
Currency strategists who have been closely monitoring the situation are recommending that clients wait for some clarity, with the best possible outcome before piling back into Sterling, those events which might lead to a lengthier delay. In the meantime, data released earlier today failed to provide any lift for the Pound, with only personal inflation beating economists forecasts with a reading of 1.9% against an expected 1.8% for February (year-over-year). Producer price inflation was notably lower and missed analysts' predictions while retail sales were reported as expected.