Afternoon Market Update – 24/01/2017 – by Jazz Singh
January 24, 2017The big news this morning was the Supreme Court’s ruling that PM May must have the approval of Parliament before invoking Article 50. However, the judges ruled that legislatures in Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be able to vote on the timing of Article 50. It was this point that led to a sell off in sterling, declining some 100 pips against the dollar once this hit the wires. Sterling has settled in more recent trade as we expect comments from Brexit Minister David Davis later today. European bourses are on the rise this session after a strong sell off in the last few minutes of the cash market yesterday. Mining stocks are leading the gains, reaching their highest levels since 2014. US equity futures are pointing towards a slight uptick at the cash open, while gold has slipped 0.4 percent after reaching a 2 month high this morning. The calendar is busy this afternoon but US Manufacturing PMI is the only data point of real note.
