While US markets take the day off for MLK holiday, the rest of the trading world has been busy, perhaps nowhere more so than the sterling which continued its volatile session in advance of May’s pre-hard Brexit speech, falling below $1.20 for the first time since October after the Sunday Times said May is ready to withdraw from tariff-free trade with the region in return for the ability to curb immigration and strike commercial deals with other countries. As a result, overnight pound-dollar volatility surged the most since the summer, and breached just twice previously: ahead of the Brexit vote, and before the Bank of England’s July and August meetings.
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The dollar rose, in an apparent bid for safety, rebounding after suffering its worst week since November when it was hit by a lack of clarity over the policies of U. S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration is on Friday.
“(The movement) shows that people are looking ahead this week with Trump’s inauguration and discussions on Brexit. There is a lot of uncertainty moving forward,” Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central, told Reuters.
Yields on low-risk German government bonds fell but those on Italian equivalents edged up after rating agency DBRS cut Italy’s credit rating after markets closed on Friday in a move that could raise borrowing costs for the country’s banks. Italy’s downgrade will mean Italian banks will have to pay more to borrow money from the European Central Bank when they use the country’s sovereign bonds as collateral. It may also make Italian debt less attractive for foreign buyers. German 10-year bond yields fell 2 basis points to 0.32 percent. Italian 10-year yields rose marginally to 1.90%.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jan 16, 2017.
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