UK gilts trade range-bound ahead of BoE’s Financial Stability Report amid muted trading hours

The United Kingdom’s gilts remained range-bound during Tuesday’s afternoon session ahead of the Bank of England’s (BoE) Financial Stability Report, scheduled to be released on November 28.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, slumped 2 basis points to 1.391 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields remained tad lower at 1.969 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year too traded 1/2 basis point lower at 0.767 percent by 10:30GMT.

With May’s chances of securing House of Commons ratification for her Brexit deal in the ‘meaningful vote’ on December 11 seemingly diminishing by the day, an ECJ hearing gets underway today to confirm whether the Article 50 notice could be unilaterally revoked by the UK Government to halt Brexit, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

The Government’s legal position on the matter, released yesterday, suggested that – contrary to earlier indications – MPs could, if they wish, simply direct it to halt the Article 50 process in order to prevent Brexit from happening. We suspect that the ECJ will, in due course, confirm that assessment via its judgement, which would offer a further possible (if unlikely) scenario for MPs to consider if and when May’s deal is rejected by the House of Commons.  

In addition to the steady flow of Brexit-related news, today will bring the quarterly CBI Distributive Trades survey. The latest retail sales figures surprised on the downside showing that activity on the High Street slowed in October after very strong growth in Q2 and Q3. Today’s survey will probably signal a further moderation this month, the report added.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 traded 0.32 percent lower at 7,013.00 by 10:35GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -96.34 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex