The pound on Monday hit a six-week high, helped by a weaker dollar and reports of progress on the Irish border question, an obstacle to Brexit diplomats will try to overcome this week at a European Union summit. The United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29 but no full exit agreement has been reached and some rebels in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party have threatened to vote down a deal if she clinches one. But sterling has benefited recently from reports on behind-the-scenes efforts to ...

Buying protection over fluctuations in the pound will remain a relatively costly exercise as Brexit headlines gather momentum and central banks slowly tighten policy. Uncertainty over the endgame of Brexit talks — key disagreements still need to be addressed — and risks that euroskeptic Conservatives may challenge U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership may support gamma demand for sterling. The same cannot be said for the euro, as one-month volatility in euro-dollar extended its recent drop as the European Central Bank stuck to its well-communicated patient monetary tightening. Sterling volatility ...

The dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Friday, rebounding from a near 1-1/2-month low, due to upbeat U.S. economic data and safe-haven demand on reports U.S. President Donald Trump wants to slap duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods. Higher Treasury yields also lifted the dollar with the 10-year yield US10YT=RR touching 3 percent for the first time in six weeks. Reports that Trump told aides to proceed with tariffs on Chinese goods came after Chinese officials welcomed an invitation from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for new talks ...

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker isn’t a nationalist populist, but he devoted his State of the European Union address on Wednesday to the defense of “European sovereignty.” This means, among other things, using the euro to challenge the U.S. dollar’s global dominance, particularly in an era of growing American unilateralism. “The euro must become the face and the instrument of a new, more sovereign Europe,” Juncker said. “It is absurd that Europe pays for 80 percent of its energy import bill — worth 300 billion euro a year — in ...

The euro rose to a two-week high on Friday after weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation data continued to weigh on the dollar and a broader recovery in investment sentiment supported the single currency. The Turkish central bank’s decision on Thursday to hike interest rates sharply sparked a recovery across emerging market assets, and hopes of a new round of trade talks to reduce tensions between United States and China buoyed broader market sentiment into Friday. “The market is focused on whether the improvement in sentiment and the recovery in emerging markets will ...

Sterling extended its earlier gains to move above $1.31 on Thursday after a media report that Britain and the European Union had made progress on the Irish border question, a major hurdle to agreeing a Brexit deal. A report published by Bloomberg said that the UK had agreed to an EU request for information that could help end a dispute over the Irish border. The EU has made a so-called “backstop” proposal to guarantee an open UK-EU land border in Ireland a condition for any divorce deal before Britain leaves ...

The dollar drifted higher against a basket of its rivals on Thursday, moving away from a two-week low in the previous session, as investors moved to the sidelines before a trio of central bank policy decisions. Major currencies were hovering in tiny ranges with only the Japanese yen leading losers against the greenback as overnight headlines that Washington was seeking a new round of trade talks with Beijing doing little to dispel the broader undertone of caution in markets. The dollar rose 0.2 percent to 94.93, rising from a end-August ...

The dollar drifted higher against a basket of its rivals on Thursday, above a two-week low plumbed in the previous session, as investors moved to the sidelines before a trio of central bank policy decisions. While overnight headlines that Washington was seeking a new round of trade talks with Beijing boosted risk appetite, major currencies were hovering in tiny ranges with only the Japanese yen leading losers against the greenback. The dollar rose 0.2 percent to 94.93, rising from a end-August low of 94.73 hit in the previous session. The ...

Sterling GBP=D3 bounced back from early lows in volatile trading on Wednesday after Brexit-supporting members of parliament in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s party publicly pledged support for her to stay in power. The pound had fallen as much as a quarter of a percent to below $1.30 GBP=D3 against the dollar after the BBC reported a group of MPs in May’s ruling Conservative Party had met to discuss how and when they could force her out of her job. But it later rose as MPs within her party said ...

The dollar was largely unchanged on Wednesday as markets remained cautious over the likelihood of an escalation in the trade conflict between the United States and China in the backdrop of growing weakness in the renminbi. Other currencies hardly fared better with the euro on the back foot on reports the European Central Bank will trim its growth forecasts at a policy meeting on Thursday, while the British currency was dogged by domestic political concerns. “Markets seem to be taking a breather from the recent volatility and we are trading ...

Sterling bounced from early lows in volatile trading before a central bank meeting on Thursday, though reports of a potential leadership challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May weighed on sentiment. The pound fell as much as a quarter of a percent to a low of $1.2994 against the dollar after the BBC reported a group of about 50 members of parliament in May’s ruling Conservative Party had met to discuss how and when they could force her out of her job. But it edged off its lows to trade broadly ...

Sterling erased its earlier gains and edged lower on Tuesday as a rise in optimism over prospects for a Brexit trade deal with the European Union faded. The British currency hit its highest level since early August in early trading at $1.3087, but gave up its gains after the pay data to stand 0.1 percent down at $1.3011. Against the euro, the pound was flat at 89.12 pence. “If the currency market is anything to go by, the markets are too pessimistic about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit,” said ...

Sterling erased its earlier gains and fell into the red on Tuesday as a recent rise in optimism over prospects for a Brexit trade deal with the European Union faded. The pound remained close to five-week highs, however, after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s comments on Monday that a Brexit deal was possible within weeks and given that British economic data has been broadly supportive of the currency. The latest figures, published on Tuesday, showed British workers’ underlying pay growth picking up faster than expected, although market attention is squarely ...

This year has been a tale of two dollars. The U.S. dollar’s strength has buffeted stocks and bonds in poorer countries, raising concerns that further appreciation in coming months could destabilize the emerging world. Yet the dollar in recent weeks has slipped against some of its developed-market peers like the euro and yen, even as the outlook for growth in some of those places has started to darken. Investors now are grappling with the consequences of this split and how likely it is to persist or even intensify. The debate ...

The euro and sterling rose against the dollar on Monday after the European Union’s top negotiator said an agreement for Britain to leave the economic bloc might be reached in the coming weeks. The pound in particular had been under pressure in recent weeks on anxiety that Britain would exit from the EU without any formal trading arrangement. “Sterling bears have been caught off side. The euro is also getting a bump as people are jumping on a ‘risk-on’ sentiment,” said Dean Popplewell, vice president of market analysis at OANDA ...