Sterling Jumps as Donald Tusk Sees Promising Signal on Brexit

Great Britain pound rallied today after Donald Tusk, the president of the EU council said he had seen promising signals about the likelihood of a deal between the EU and UK. The rally was a continuation of the rally that started yesterday after a meeting between Boris Johnson and Ireland’s Leo Varadkar. In the statement, Tusk said that he had seen some progress but warned that no deal was guaranteed. Talks between the EU and the UK have revolved around ‘backstop’, which is a measure that the EU is insisting on. The EU has insisted that either the UK or Northern Ireland should continue being in the customs union. This will prevent a hard border between the EU and the UK. Just yesterday, Nissan warned that a return to tariffs will likely force it to shut down a plant in the UK that it uses to supply cars to the rest of the EU.

The price of crude oil rose and then declined, after Iran said that one of its tankers was hit by a missile near the Saudi Arabian port. In a statement by the National Oil Tankers Company of Iran, two of its tankers were hit by two missiles. This attack happened a few weeks after Saudi Arabia’s biggest terminal was hit by strikes. These attacks were thought to be from Iran or from Iranian proxies in Yemen. Meanwhile, the IEA slashed the oil demand for this year and 2020. It reduced the demand by 65k barrels per day this year and by 105k per day in the coming year. The France-based body attributed this to the sluggish growth of the economy. This was the third straight month of demand cuts.

European and Asian stocks and US futures rose today as traders continued to place their hopes on the ongoing talks between the US and China. These talks began yesterday after the arrival of Liu He, and his team from China. The Chinese Vice Premier is expected to meet with Donald Trump later today. Traders and market watchers hope for an “early harvest” before the two countries do a comprehensive trade deal. Such a skinny deal will likely lead to higher stocks as traders hope for a comprehensive deal between the two countries. The two countries are under pressure. Just last week, job numbers from the US showed that hiring had stalled and manufacturing activity has declined to the lowest level in ten years. Meanwhile, in Canada, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5% while the participation rate dropped to 65.7% from the previous 65.8%. The economy created more than 53.k, which was better than the consensus estimates of 23.8k.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair rose today to a high of 1.1025. This level was lower than yesterday’s high of 1.1035. On the hourly chart, this price is slightly above the important support shown in yellow below. The price is also above the 14-day and 28-day moving averages. Volumes appear to have increased too. In addition, the signal and the main line of the Stochastic indicator has continued to rise. The pair will likely continue moving higher to test the previous high of 1.1035.

GBP/USD

The GBP/USD continued to soar after more signs of optimism on Brexit. The pair rose to a high of 1.2575. This was the highest level since July this year. On the daily chart, the price is between the 38.2% and 50% Fibonacci Retracement level. The price is above the 28-day and 14-day moving average. It is slightly below the 200-day moving averages. The pair will likely continue to soar as this optimism continues.

XBR/USD

The XBR/USD pair rose to a high of 60.33 after the Iranian vessel attack. The pair then declined slightly after the report by IEA and is now trading at 59.74. On the hourly chart, the price is slightly lower than the upper line of the Bollinger Bands. The RSI has dropped slightly from a high of 78 to the current 68. The momentum indicator has also been on a strong upward trend. While the pair could continue moving higher, things could change during the weekend.