Sterling wary as fears of conflict rise in the Middle East

GBP

Sterling remains relatively wary as fears of conflict rise in the Middle East. Boris Johnson in a joint statement with Germany’s Angela Merkel & France’s Emmanuel Macron, urged restraint and called on Iran to refrain from further violent action and proliferation. Members of parliament re-group this week in an active bid to push for an exit from the EU on January 31^st. Johnson is expected to meet the president of the EU Commission on Wednesday to discuss the open positions between the two parties and the transition period moving forward as it is expected to expire by December 2020.

EUR

The Euro continues its calmness into the new year as it manages to shake off weak economic data, poor European growth, negative government-bond yields and more importantly UK’s exit from the EU. The ECB faces further pressures of structurally missing it’s just under 2% inflation target over the past decade.

USD

The US killing of Iran’s ranking military leader Qassem Soleimani rocked markets on Friday driving equites sharply lower and oil up almost 3% as the quickening and escalating pace of confrontation promised more trouble in the immediate future. Dollar falls further against all major currency pairs this morning as Iran vows “severe revenge” for the assassination of its military general, whilst Trump threatens further sanctions should Iran respond. US unemployment data is due towards the end of the week and positive data could see a dollar push as we near the market close.