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The United Kingdom’s gilts climbed during Monday’s afternoon session, ahead of the country’s 10-year auction, scheduled to be held on January 8 by 10:45GMT and Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney’s speech, due to be held on the following day at 15:30GMT.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, plunged nearly 4 basis points to 1.240 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields slumped 3-1/2 basis points to 1. 773 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded 1 basis point lower at 0.738 percent by 11:10GMT.
The focus in the UK this week will shift back to politics and Brexit. Having shelved her plan to hold the parliamentary ‘meaningful vote’ in December in the face of mass opposition among MPs to her deal, Theresa May promised that parliament will have its say in the third week of January.
Ahead of that vote, now expected on January 15, MPs will re-start debating the deal in the second half of this week. But in the absence of a sudden substantive concession from the EU (which appears highly unlikely to emerge), there is no reason to believe that a majority in favour of May’s plan will emerge then. Indeed, we expect May to lose the vote next week, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.
Data-wise, the first half of the week should be relatively quiet. New car registrations data, due this morning, and the BRC retail sales monitor, due on Wednesday, will provide more information about consumer spending at the end of the year. But Friday’s release of monthly output indicators for November will be most notable.
"We expect only a small increase in GDP, likely of 0.1 percent m/m, which would be an unchanged reading from October with manufacturing and construction output stronger but services activity slowing. The November trade figures will probably show a modest reduction in the large deficit," the report further noted.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 0.65 percent to 6,794.39 by 11:10GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at -29.00 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
