Pound Rises After Merkel Says EU Has Made ‘Very Important’ Offer
Pound Rises After Merkel Says EU Has Made ‘Very Important’ Offer
(Bloomberg) -- The pound rallied after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker had made a “very important” offer to the U.K. on Brexit.
Sterling was on course to snap seven days of declines, its longest losing streak since August, following the sign of a concession from the European side ahead of a U.K. Parliament vote on the Brexit deal Tuesday. Facing defeat by lawmakers, Prime Minister Theresa May is said to be considering all options including an aspirational motion setting out a deal they would be prepared to support.
“The pound is up sharply as it appears Juncker has made an important offer to the U.K.,” said Neil Jones, head of foreign-exchange sales at Mizuho Bank. “It could help May to get enough support, but she does not have time at the moment.”
Sterling climbed 0.5 percent to $1.3074 as of 2:25 p.m. in London, after touching a high of $1.3097. Sterling had earlier fallen to $1.2949, the lowest level in three weeks, amid reports that May could pull Tuesday’s vote.
--With assistance from Anooja Debnath.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Ainger in London at jainger@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Neil Chatterjee, Anil Varma
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