The Pound Sterling held above a 3-week trough against the US Dollar during London trade as FX traders await the latest proposals on a Brexit deal from the Prime Minister. With the deadline swiftly moving toward the October 31st leave date, there is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty as to how the departure will play out, or if it does at all. Analysts say that Boris Johnson's newest proposal should include his thoughts on how to approach the Irish border issue, which has been among the most contentiously deliberated.
In London at 11:09 am, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.2287, a loss of 0.022%; the pair has ranged from a trough of $1.22594 to a high of $1.23073. The EUR/GBP was higher at 0.8867 Pence, a gain of 0.237% and off the earlier peak of 0.88807 Pence.
EU PMI Surveys Fail to Impress
Mixed data from Markit surveys failed to lift the Euro against its US counterpart. Markit PMI Manufacturing surveys for September were released today and show improvement in Germany, the UK and the Eurozone as a whole; it should be noted that the reading for Germany, at 41.7 and though better than expected, is still below the 50.0 threshold which separates an expanding sector from a contracting one. The PMI surveys for Switzerland, France and Italy all missed analysts forecasts. The EUR/USD was trading lower at $1.0897, down 0.0193%.