The UK has left the European Union

It is now official, the UK has left the European Union as Boris Johnson delivered on his promise of getting Brexit done. The government will have until the end of the year to try and agree a trade deal with the EU, however striking a deal with the EU at this point is currently unlikely in the short term as both sides of the negotiation teams have approached the subject with stubborn mindsets with the UK government already suggesting that they will not accept EU rules to get a trade deal.

There are reports circling this morning that Boris Johnson will today confirm the UK does not intent to be governed by EU rules in order to gain access to the European market. The Prime Minister has been quoted to say that the choice is “emphatically not a “deal or no-deal’” but whether the UK’s relationship with the EU is more like Canada’s or Australia’s”. Today’s speech by Johnson could be a sign of things to come. This could be a pivotal day for Sterling and could give an indication of how the Pound performs against the majors with trade deal talks likely to orchestrate market movements over the course of 2020.

With Brexit now done economic data will again have more of an effect on the currency market. Last month GDP and retail figures were down in the UK which sparked rumours of an interest rate cut, however the Bank of England didn’t act and no cut took place. The BoE will looking closely at data released this month in the UK, should there be no improvement the rate cut talks could potentially resurface.