On UK’s decision to seek Brexit deal renegotiations, European Council President Donald Tusk said via his spokesman “The Withdrawal Agreement is and remains the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union”. “The backstop is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Withdrawal Agreement is not open for renegotiation.”
Nevertheless, Tusk said “We welcome and share the UK parliament’s ambition to avoid a no-deal scenario. We continue to urge the UK government to clarify its intentions with respect to its next steps as soon as possible.” And, “If the UK’s intentions for the future partnership were to evolve, the EU would be prepared to reconsider its offer and adjust the content and the level of ambition of the political declaration… Should there be a UK reasoned request for an extension, the EU27 would stand ready to consider it and decide by unanimity.”
European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt echoed and said “we stand by Ireland,”and “there is no majority to re-open or dilute the Withdrawal Agreement in the European Parliament, including the backstop.”
Australia CPI slowed to 1.8%, but beat expectations
Australian Dollar is lifted slightly by stronger than expected consumer inflation reading. Headline CPI rose 0.5% qoq in Q4 versus expectation of 0.4% qoq. Annual rate slowed to 1.8% yoy, down from 1.9% yoy, but beat expectation of 1.7% yoy. RBA trimmed mean CPI rose 0.4% qoq, 1.8% yoy, matched expectations. RBA weighed media CPI rose 0.4% qoq, 1.7% yoy, basically matched expectations.
ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman said: “Annual growth in the CPI remains below 2 per cent in the December quarter 2018, with annual growth in tradables inflation of just 0.6 per cent, while non-tradables inflation rose 2.4 per cent. Over the past four years, annual growth in the CPI has only risen above 2 per cent in two of the past 16 quarters.”
ABS also noted that
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