The British Prime Minister's last ditch attempt to gain approval for her Brexit plans has failed miserably and there is growing pressure on her to announce her resignation. Her attempt yesterday to get backing spurred a revolt of some supporters; the political uncertainty and the likelihood of Theresa May's departure has pushed the Pound Sterling lower still, and forced a sell-off the currency. The leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, announced her resignation and the BBC is reporting that more ministers are likely to follow her lead. All of that paves away to the growing likelihood that a more Euroskeptic prime minister will be installed.
As reported at 11:31 am (GMT) in London, the GBP/USD was trading lower at $1.2635, down 0.1833% and nearly midway between the session trough of $1.2605 and the high at $1.2666. The EUR/GBP was trading at 0.8811 Pence, up 0.0068%; the pair has ranged from 0.88056 Pence to 0.88381 Pence.
Eurozone PMIs Disappoint
In the Eurozone, a slew of data was released earlier today, with the majority of them PMI surveys from Markit. On the whole, the preliminary May figures for the German services and manufacturing sector fell short of expectations, though the composite number was surprisingly higher at 52.4. In France, all of the readings were better than expected, with the composite reading of the sectors showing 51.3 against a forecast of 50.3. For the Eurozone, all of the preliminary readings were disappointing, with the services sector falling to 52.5 from 52.8, the manufacturing sector 47.7 from 47.9 and the composite at 51.6, improved from the 51.5 in the previous reading but missing the predicted 51.7. The EUR/USD was trading lower at $1.1135, down 0.156%, and moving off the low of $1.11291.