The main focus is, of course, Theresa May’s Brexit speech. In what is likely to be the clearest indication yet that the government is pursuing a hard Brexit, the Prime Minister will reportedly place controlling immigration and leaving the jurisdiction of the European court of justice as the country’s top priorities when negotiating. That would almost certainly confirm Britain’s exit from the single market, a move that is going to court just as much controversy in the Tory party as it does appease those members from the Leave campaign looking to burn all EU bridges. Beyond that May’s speech seems set to be filled with meaningless buzz words, the PM wanting to remain Europe’s ‘best friend’ while aiming to create a ‘global Britain’ (though one imagines Britain being so global was what pushed people towards Leave in the first place).
Before all that the pound gets to deal with some hard data in the form of the latest inflation figures. Analysts are expecting a month-on-month increase from 1.2% to 1.4%, the highest reading since September 2014.
So far the pound seems fairly chilled about all this; after such a sharp fall yesterday it seems to be in rebound mode at the moment, rising 0.6% against the dollar and 0.1% against the euro. The fact that the currency knows much of what May is going to say likely helps, as does the increase in clarity this speech will hopefully bring about. As for the FTSE, after finally ending its record run last night the index looks a bit tired, falling 15 points after the bell to hover just above 7300.
