Today’s news headlines:

‘Tough Macron stance leaves Brexit deal hanging in balance’. The UK-EU free trade agreement was drawn into perilous territory last night after some ‘eleventh hour’ demands from French President, Emmanuel Macron. Mr Macron wants to preserve existing fishing rights for the French fleet in British waters along with a strict regime on UK state-aid, in order to stamp out unfair competition. Officials from both sides now admit that there will not be a deal by the end of the weekend, with UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, alarmed by the French president’s position. Hopes remain that the last minute obstacle can be resolved on Monday or Tuesday, in time for the European Council meeting on Thursday. (Financial Times)

‘Brussels warns Poland and Hungary they cannot stop EU recovery fund’. The EU is threatening to cut out Poland and Hungary from the coronavirus recovery fund if they continue to obstruct progress of the fiscal package. The two countries are objecting against the EU’s new rule of law mechanism that they claim unfairly targets their nations. The EU’s budget commissioner warned that the bloc would counter by severely reducing flows of money to Warsaw and Budapest until a compromise is reached. (Financial Times)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• Yesterday, the Pound soared to its highest level against the US Dollar in about a year, as a combination of Dollar weakness and optimism over a UK-EU trade agreement helped market sentiment. Asian shares were mixed overnight, but UK and US equity futures ticked higher ahead of US labour data today.

Today's events

German Factory Orders: 2.9% vs 1.1% previously
UK MPC Member Tenreyro Speaks: 9.30am
Canada Employment Change: 1.30pm
Canada Unemployment Rate: 1.30pm
US Average Hourly Earnings: 1.30pm
US Non-Farm Employment Change: 1.30pm
US Unemployment Rate: 1.30pm

Interbank rates

GBP/USD: 1.3445
GBP/EUR: 1.1060
EUR/USD: 1.2150
USD/CAD: 1.2860

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