Τhe Dollar has traded moderately firmer, and the Pound has drifted lower, though the US currency has remained comfortably above its Monday highs while the UK currency has remained well off the lows it saw yesterday.
News that the EU has rejected the UK’s latest offer on fishing (which was a 35% reduction in the EU’s fishing quota from UK waters following a five-year transition period) weighed on the Pound. Brussels is reportedly demanding only a 25% quota reduction. Politico-Europe reported that UK PM Johnson and EU Commission President von der Leyen had a phone conversation yesterday to discuss a compromise on fish, and while the UK’s latest offer appears to have been rejected by the EU, it is positive that both sides are still talking. At the same time France and the UK are negotiating a way out of the current border disruption, with truckers to be tested at the borders. There doesn’t seem to be an agreement on the details – i.e. who pays where for what – but again, there are at least discussions on how to move forward, which helped sentiment to stabilise somewhat.
It is still expected that a deal will materialise before the looming year-end deadline, given the win-win versus lose-lose stakes, and given that intense discussions are continuing, along with reports from sources close to the negotiating teams that a landing zone for an accord is visible. Another consideration that has come to light is that EU law does not stipulate that ratification by Parliament is imperative and that an agreed deal could be applied provisionally (as highlighted by the BBC’s Katya Alder). This is important to know after the European Parliament’s deadline for the text of deal to be presented by Sunday just gone was missed. As for ratification in UK parliament, members are on standby to be recalled from their Christmas recess, and a deal could be ratified in just a single day given the government’s strong majority.
European stock markets rebounded after a mostly negative session in Asia. US equity index futures recouped earlier declines, and were near net unchanged as of the early London afternoon. News that the US Congress has passed the $900 bln Covid-19 relief package boosted sentiment, along with news that the EU will commence its Covid-19 vaccination program just after Christmas.
EU vaccinations to start after Christmas. Regulators cleared the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine yesterday and the EU has already pre-ordered EUR 200 bln of the vaccine earlier in the year and this month also acted on the option to purchase additional EUR 100 bln that was part of the original deal. Not all of these doses are immediately available as production is slower than demand. The 300 million also won’t be sufficient for the 450 million EU inhabitants and officials will regret that the EU didn’t act on the offer in July to pre-order 500 million. Still, at that point it was not clear that Pfizer would win the race and as pre-orders were a large incentive to speed up developments, the EU decided on a wider spread, with provisional orders for more than 2 bln doses of candidate vaccines from a range of companies. Next in line is Moderna, with the European Medicines Agency set to meet on January 6 to discuss the vaccine, for which the EU has placed orders for 160 million. Still, it will take a while until vaccinations are rolled out properly – not just in the EU and if the virus mutates and becomes more infectious that also means a higher uptake is necessary to reach herd immunity.
In currency market, GBPUSD stabilised after rolling the roller coaster on Monday. Although GBPUSD managed to rise again to near 1.3500 overnight, the rise is seen to be quite limited for now. Cable found support the past few hours above 1.3400 after it tested daily pivot at 1.3390. The 50-period SMA and 200-period SMA clashed at 1.3400. If daily pivot is rejected then S1 1.3266 will be a key support. Monday’s highest price of 1.3498 remains a significant resistance followed by a pivot of R1 at 1.3577. The Bulls need strong momentum above 1.3500 to maintain their dominance.
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Andria Pichidi
Market Analyst
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