On the Brexit front, we have yet another uneventful weekend- with no real news coming from talks apart from the fact that Brexit negotiators will continue into Monday. On Thursday, the EU made Sunday the deadline for a deal so it could be ratified before Christmas, which has, of course, been ignored. Since a deal has not been struck, the EU Have now said there is no way a deal can be ratified in 2020, but we will have to see how this particular statement ages.
At this point, the UK claims it will decide this week whether talks will continue, however, there is every chance we watch this continue into January 31st. Threats of a No Deal Brexit have come up again, and both sides are looking at damage control at this point and claiming that a series of “mini deals” can be made to ensure there isn’t a disruption in trade etc in January, however at this point it is still all just smoke and mirrors.
Now, the bigger news over the weekend was the U-Turn from PM Boris Johnson on Christmas for London and the South East after putting these areas in “Tier 4” which does not allow any households to mix over the Christmas period. It was an unexpected blow to many businesses and people’s plans, but the reason for this particular U-Turn was the news of a new strain of the Coronavirus which seems to spreading quicker. From a personal perspective I have heard of so many more people contracting the virus over the last 7 days compared to the last 9 months, so it does seem to be going around right now.
The response has been many countries around Europe halting any travel to and from the UK for a minimum of 48 hours, with even the Eurostar stopping it’s services to try and mitigate importing the new strain of Covid from the UK.
The last 48 hours in the UK have been sobering after the recent positivity surrounding the rollout of vaccines in the UK, and I think questions on many investors minds will be if the vaccine rollout is going to be fast enough to assist with getting the economy back to “Normal” over 2021, or if things will have to move quicker.
This week will see relatively thin liquidity on the market, however, any news on the Pound I believe will be heavily traded- we will be trading as normal Mon-Wed and we will be open half day on Christmas eve (However to guarantee same day payment I recommend doing payments on Wednesday prior to 2pm.
Unless there are any major Brexit announcements, this will probably be my last article of 2020- so I would like to wish you all a healthy and happy Christmas, this has not been an easy year by any measure, and this will not be the type of Christmas we are used to having, but please look after yourselves and know there are lights emerging at the end of the tunnel. Many of your conversations have kept me sane this year so thank you for your custom, support and friendship through this crazy year!
Here’s to a better and brighter 2021!
Be safe all.
Prem.