Tempering hopes

Today’s news headlines:

‘UK plan to undermine withdrawal treaty puts Brexit talks at risk’. On Wednesday, the UK will publish the internal market bill, a piece of new legislation that risks the collapse of trade negotiations with the EU. Sections of the bill will override key parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, undermining Boris Johnson’s pledge to avoid a hard border in the region. Last week, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, warned that the implementation of the withdrawal agreement was a key issue of trust between the two parties. (Financial Times)

‘US unemployment rate drops to 8.4% as labour market rebounds further’. US firms in August continued to rehire some of the workers let go through the pandemic, but at a lower rate than in July. The US has now recovered slightly less than half of the jobs lost at the start of the coronavirus crisis as 1.4m new jobs were added last month. Economists at Fitch Ratings called the release a positive surprise, despite predicting that economic growth would slow into the fourth quarter of the year. (Financial Times)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• Sterling fell against all of its G-10 peers on recent Brexit headlines that ramp up the odds of the UK leaving with no free trade agreement come the end of the year. Stocks in Asia struggled for direction after last week’s sell-off on Wall Street. Meanwhile, European equity futures are pointing firmly higher.

Today's events

German Industrial Production: 1.2% vs 9.3% previously
Halifax House Price Index: 8.30am
US and Canada Bank Holiday: All day

Interbank rates:

GBP/USD: 1.3205
GBP/EUR: 1.1165
EUR/USD: 1.1825
USD/CAD: 1.3103