
Market Brief: Former Trump staffers indicted
31 Oct 2017
Away from the markets, news yesterday centred around the Russian investigation where two key staffers during Trump’s presidential campaign were indicted on charges relating to the Russian influence on the Presidential election.
Today's data releases |
Key levels | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
10:00 | EU unemployment rate, GDP & CPI | Support | Resistance | |
13:45 | Chicago PMI | GBP/USD | 1.3027 | 1.3340 |
14:00 | Consumer confidence | GBP/EUR | 1.1065 | 1.1435 |
16:05 | Brexit Secretary Davis questioned by House of Lords |
Market overview
The most high profile is President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who’s been charged for conspiracy and money laundering while others include an ex-foreign policy advisor and a business partner of Mr Manafort. Much has been made of the ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller’s special investigation into the Russian affair and yesterday’s charges may yet just be the beginning. It’s hard to tell whether the Trump camp feel they can now draw a line under this saga but with one of the defendants already pleading guilty and presumably fully cooperating with the authorities, there could yet be further revelations.
Back home, under fire Chancellor Philip Hammond, has warned his cabinet colleagues he will not break his fiscal rules to increase public spending in next month's Budget. Despite heavy pressure for Mr Hammond to loosen austerity, the Chancellor's allies say he has "no room for manoeuvre" and he fears that investors, already worried by Brexit, will be spooked if he abandons a fiscal framework adopted only a year ago. Claims at the weekend that the Budget will be "BIG and BOLD" have raised eyebrows in the Treasury, as the Chancellor grapples with weak forecasts that could wipe out a large slice of the £26bn buffer he set aside to steer the economy through Brexit.
Staying in the UK, the next EU summit is scheduled to be held on 14th December and if talks ahead of this go according to plan, the PM and her Brexit team will be hoping for a green light from EU leaders to begin trade talks. Given the timeframe we expect to hear more announcements coming from the negotiations in the coming weeks which undoubtedly will have some bearing on sterling.
Back home, under fire Chancellor Philip Hammond, has warned his cabinet colleagues he will not break his fiscal rules to increase public spending in next month's Budget. Despite heavy pressure for Mr Hammond to loosen austerity, the Chancellor's allies say he has "no room for manoeuvre" and he fears that investors, already worried by Brexit, will be spooked if he abandons a fiscal framework adopted only a year ago. Claims at the weekend that the Budget will be "BIG and BOLD" have raised eyebrows in the Treasury, as the Chancellor grapples with weak forecasts that could wipe out a large slice of the £26bn buffer he set aside to steer the economy through Brexit.
Staying in the UK, the next EU summit is scheduled to be held on 14th December and if talks ahead of this go according to plan, the PM and her Brexit team will be hoping for a green light from EU leaders to begin trade talks. Given the timeframe we expect to hear more announcements coming from the negotiations in the coming weeks which undoubtedly will have some bearing on sterling.