Late news prompts GBP rally
|Some late-session strength in cable is bearing down on the FTSE 100, but elsewhere equities are trying to recoup early losses.
- Indices still in the red despite some recovery
- Citigroup rallies after earnings
- Sterling climbs as Tories locate a desire for unity
Equity markets are trading in the red this afternoon, continuing the broadly negative theme as markets struggle to find new positives to keep the latest rally in equities going into a fourth week. Earnings season is now officially underway, as Citigroup becomes the first major bank to report figures. The stock is up 2% so far today, having already rallied by over a fifth in the past three weeks, and while the update was quite mixed, there were no terrible surprises, although the weakness in trading revenue is a concern, but for now investors appear happy to write this one off as a blip. If other big firms follow suit however then the positive atmosphere may not last. Having started the day
lower, indices are trying to move into positive territory, but for this rally to last some really good news from earnings season will be needed.
This rally in sterling will either be a gift for sellers later in the week, or the start of something bigger if a no deal Brexit recedes further into the distance. The market has begun to sense that the sands are shifting in support of the deal. After the twists and turns of the past year, nothing would surprise markets, but with a Hilary Benn amendment to rule out a no-deal apparently provoking an outbreak of unity among hard-Brexit Tory MPs, it looks like the Brexit tale has a few twists left in it.
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