Stalemate

Today’s news headlines:

‘Sunak will struggle to meet Tory election pledges, warns IFS’. Looking ahead to Rishi Sunak’s autumn spending review, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has noted that the UK’s Chancellor will struggle to deliver on his party’s manifesto pledges without massive tax increases or significant additional borrowing. The greatest difficulty will be delivering on promises to improve public services, and the pressures would become even greater if the pandemic or Brexit leave long-term economic scars. The Conservatives’ pledge to ‘level up’ poorer areas of the country which would require additional spending of over £100bn according to Andrew Carter of the Centre for Cities. (Financial Times)

‘EU and UK dig in over Johnson’s Internal Market Bill’. Officials from the UK and EU will move forward with trade talks, beginning today, despite Boris Johnson’s plan to override the Brexit withdrawal treaty with new legislation. EU officials have commented that the bloc will take legal action against the UK if the deadline passes for rewriting the controversial Internal Market Bill, citing an extremely serious violation of protocol and international law. Meanwhile, the UK continues to support the bill as a safeguard against unreasonable behaviour by EU officials. (Financial Times)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• Signs that US politicians are making progress on a new stimulus package caused US markets to rally, with futures pointing towards further gains on Wall St today. However, some caution is evident ahead of the first US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden later today. 

Today's events

Spanish Flash CPI: -0.4% vs -0.5% previously
US CB Consumer Confidence: 3.00pm

Interbank rates:

GBP/USD: 1.2855
GBP/EUR: 1.1005
EUR/USD: 1.1675
USD/CAD: 1.3380