Summary:
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Pound plunges as May stands firm as Brexit talks yield little progress
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Stocks set for solid weekly gains
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USDCAD tests key support after data
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Oil sinks ahead of OPEC + meeting
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Ripple soars as new product announced
There’s been a large drop in the pound today with the currency looking skittish after UK prime minister Theresa May reinforced or Brexit stance in a defiant speech. The PM was delivering a public update after her meeting with EU leaders in Salzburg and said that both parties were still a long way apart on two big issues - the Irish border and abiding by all EU rules.
It’s been a good week for UK stocks with the FTSE 100 posting some solid gains as it has joined in a broader global rally in stock markets despite the rise in trade tensions between the US and China. The FTSE has posted a 4th consecutive day of gains this afternoon with the market being in a near constant push higher since opening lower on Tuesday morning with today’s gains the largest of the lot. Elsewhere US stocks looks set to end the week at record highs while the DE30 has also enjoyed solid gains in recent days.
The Canadian dollar has received a short term boost this afternoon with the latest consumer spending figures beating forecasts sending the Loonie higher against most of its peers, although these initial gains were since pared somewhat. In M/M terms the headline retail sales figure rose by 0.3% as expected, marking a comeback from the 0.2% drop last time out. But it was the core figure which delivered the best bit of news with a rise of 0.9% M/M above the 0.6% expected and further above the -0.1% seen last time out. However, the USDCAD has respected the 1.2885 level once more despite the slightly positive Canadian data. This could now be viewed as key support.
Elsewhere the price of Oil has experienced a big slide heading into the weekend with reports that OPEC + members are discussing a possible production increase by another 500k bpd. The members are meeting this weekend and traders are clearly a little concerned with going home long into the event.
Ripple has embarked on an incredible rally higher in recent days with today seeing gains in excess of 70%. Reports that Ripple Labs is close to launching a new product that could help banks speed up transactions using XRP seems to be the cause behind the move and its scale has seen the market displace Ethereum as the 2nd largest cryptocurrency. The other 4 crypto markets are all higher on the day but the gains seen are dwarfed by those in Ripple.
