Moderna vaccine improves risk appetite

GBP

Sterling remained under pressure yesterday as investor attention moved away from global risk appetite and back on to Brexit negotiations.

Overall market risk appetite has improved in recent days, and yesterday saw that continue as Moderna announced that its vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing Covid-19.

However sterling fell against its peers as traders focused on the resumed Brexit talks. Whilst we have seen more optimism recently, the core issues still remain unsolved and the technical time for ratification is getting smaller and smaller. The overall consensus is that an agreement will be found, but it needs to be in the next ten days or it could be too late.

Key announcements

  • 13:30 – USD – Retail Sales (MoM) (Oct); expected to decrease to 0.5% from previous 1.9%
  • 14:00 – GBP – Bank of England Governor Bailey Speech
  • 16:00 – EUR – ECB President Lagarde Speech
  • 18:00 – USD – Fed Chair Powell Speech