When it comes to Brexit, it is anticipated that the divorce will not be taking place at the end of March. Instead, there will be an extension on the current Brexit deadline. The hope is that this leeway will give birth to a more plausible solution for all the outstanding issues. The Europen Union is hoping that the UK’s parliament will force Theresa May to ask for an extension on the current deal. So far she is determined to stay on track but at the same time, she hasn’t completely ruled this option out. She is still likely to present the parliament with two options: her deal or tumble out of Europe without any deal.
Sterling traders are surely optimistic for now and this it is this cheerfulness which has pushed the price of sterling back above the 1.30-mark against the USD.
European markets and US futures are tracking mixed trading session over in Asia and the sentiment is somewhat mixed to kick start the trading here. But the S&P 500 is still on track to record another positive week of gains. Since December 21, we have not seen the index closing lower than its previous week’s closing price. In other words, we have nearly 9 weeks of consecutive gains and looking at this particular week’s tradition action, it seems like traders are ready to take some profit off the table.
Nonetheless, the S&P 500 index is still up 10.69% year-to-date and the music is similar for the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, both of them have recorded solid gains of 10.82% and 12.43% YTD. The volatility indices; the VIX index and the VSTOXX are down massively: 43.12% and 39.89% year-to-date, respectively.
Back in States, it is all about the US president meeting the Chinese trade chief, Lie He. Trade discussions are going to be the primary subject this afternoon and the question is if they can forge a deal. The expectations are tall and it is highly likely that all the hurdles are already settled, and this meeting is more of a formality than anything else. This is because Trump has already said that “big progress being made on soooo many different fronts!” and there are also reports that China could be buying an additional $30 billion a year of additional US agricultural products consist of corn, wheat and soybean, a real win for Trump administration.
