UK Supreme Court to issue Brexit decision on January 24th

Britain’s Supreme Court will issue its decision on whether UK Prime Minister Theresa May needs to consult the parliament before invoking Article 50, which then would begin the formal process of ending UK’s membership with the European Union. During her speech on Tuesday, Theresa May has already confirmed to put the final Brexit plan for a vote in both Houses of Parliament. The Supreme court will decide whether to reject or allow a government appeal against a high court ruling to trigger Britain’s exit from the European Union without parliament having a say.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May said if European leaders tried to punish the UK for Brexit with a bad deal she would be prepared to move to a low-tax economy to make the country a more attractive place to do business than the EU and also the UK would leave the single market, she said the UK wanted to keep some aspects of single market agreements and possibly even remain in the Customs union.

Also yesterday – UK unemployment fell by 52,000 to 1.6 million in the three months to November – the lowest level for more than a decade, employment rate was steady at a record 74.5%, while wage growth picked up pace and jobless rate was steady at an 11-year low of 4.8%. The Bank of England expects unemployment to rise to 5.5% once the full effects of the referendum are felt across the economy, and earlier this week Governor Mark Carney said in a speech he believes the bank saved up to 250,000 jobs by unleashing an unprecedented package of monetary stimulus in response to the UK’s Brexit vote.

Today
European Central Bank Announcement followed and press conference from the ECB, The recent jump in inflation and growth expectations point to interest-rate hikes and winding down the quantitative easing program in Europe. Expectations are that the European Central Bank will leave its benchmark refinancing rate unchanged at 0%.

US jobs Figures – The trend in jobs growth in the US continued to slow down, Falling to 1.5% which is the slowest more than three years. Expectations may see claims rising 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 255,000.