DailyFX European Market Wrap: Sterling takes a knock after UK confirms March 29 for Article 50: 3/20/17
European markets find the going tough after the weekend’s G20 meeting at which the forum was persuaded to drop a pledge to keep global trade free and open. The news also helped continue a drop in the dollar which has its roots in a more dovish Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile the UK indicated that it will be launching formal separation proceedings with European Union on Wednesday 29 March… coming as it does just as the EU celebrates its 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that brought about the EU in the first place. At the weekend the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, told the EU that no other nations will leave as they will see how difficult the process will be.
Deutsche bank shares were down from the start of trade on Monday after it confirmed that it would be raising 8 billion euros to refinance its balance sheet and begin the process of re-establishing a pattern of growth. It also told its staff that its bonus pool would drop by more than three-quarters, to just half a billion euros, down from 2.4bn a year earlier.
And in London Vodafone confirmed that it would be undertaking a full merger with Indian mobile phone company Idea Cellular in an effort to rebut Reliance Industries move into the sector which has brought about unsustainably low contract subscriptions.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, the first day of spring, economic data includes inflation numbers in the UK, in the context of a dissenting vote last week to raise UK rates immediately because of building inflation. And earnings include Amec Foster Wheeler, BMW, Nike and FedEx.
--- written by Jeremy Naylor
