The price of gold has been bumped down from £1,178.86 per ounce down to £1,159.20 following news from Bloomberg that the UK and EU are closing in on a last-minute Brexit deal.
Despite the unsubstantiated reports, the Pound has jumped up to $1.277 against the US Dollar, with the improved value pressuring the domestic gold price and resulting in a loss of £19.66 per ounce of 1.67%.
Sterling has spiked on a headline that EU and UK negotiators are closing in on a draft Brexit deal pic.twitter.com/JzHqwdAa0m
— Thomas Seal (@TW_Seal) October 15, 2019
The gains for Sterling put it above the $1.275 mark for the first time since late June, but the currency is still some way off the exchange rate from when the Brexit referendum result was delivered in 2016 at around $1.48.
The FTSE 250 has enjoyed this afternoon’s boost to the Pound, hitting a one-year high of 20,226.95 points after a 1.8% surge. Banks like the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds have reported sizeable gains, as have construction companies like Barratt and Persimmon.
EU officials have been quick to urge caution in the face of Bloomberg’s claims, with the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stressing that progress has been made but his ‘pathway to a deal’ is a point of optimism, not a guarantee of conclusion for Brexit.
Leo Varadkar says the 'gap was still quite wide' between the EU and UK when he last checked in on Brexit progress today.
— Jack Maidment (@jrmaidment) October 15, 2019
Taoiseach adds the 'situation may have changed even in the last few hours' but customs remains a major sticking point.
At the same time as the Brexit bluster there has also been a slight drop in the gold price in Dollar-terms, thanks to a minor amount of trade war optimism (talks between the US and China are ongoing) and more significant progress in the form of today’s US company earnings. United Health (+8.04%), JP Morgan (+3.84%) and Johnson & Johnson (+2.10%) all reported gains in their annual earnings report, and all three major firms surpassed the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
Gold priced in Dollars has come down from $1,487.75 per ounce down to $1,481.40; a change of -0.42% or $6.35. The smaller degree of change highlights that while the good financials from America aren’t to be ignored, the majority of today’s shift in price is thanks to the boost to the Pound. The question is: will a Brexit deal be reached or will confidence – and Sterling – be shaken once again?
