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Pound Sinks as DUP Says It Cannot Support Current Brexit Deal Plans – Live Updates
2019-10-17 06:00:20.565 GMT

By Louis Ashworth, Markets Reporter

(Telegraph) — Agenda: Come or Arlene, or VAT’s all, folks?

Good morning. There’s one story in town today: Brexit. The latest
news, from a few minutes ago, is that the Democratic Union Party,
the group of Northern irish MPs whose support is crucial, have
said they cannot support a deal in its current form:

Before we re-enter the fray, here are the key things you need to
know from the world of business.

Overnight and yesterday, continued friction between the US and
China over Hong Kong added to a weak international outlook,
leaving London's blue-chip index down 0.6pc – its biggest fall in
more than a week. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was similarly buffeted by
news of an imminent Brexit deal, variously sinking and surging
through the day.

5 things to start your day

1) The next Bank of England Governor must be positive about
Britain’s future, encourage Government investment and keep
interest rates above zero, Dame Helena Morrissey has said . She
is a Brexiteer, star fund manager and potential candidate to
replace Mark Carney, though she has not commented on her own
chances of getting the job.

2) How the economy could have looked if Remain won the referendum
: Economists at UBS have calculated an alternate reality – that
could have emerged in a counterfactual history. The bank's
analysis is not an indictment of the opportunities or threats of
Brexit, but shows the hefty economic cost of attempting to force
the most contentious issue for generations through a Parliament
where no single party – let alone a united one – commands a
majority.

3) The boss of Volvo has said that Sir James Dyson should “go
back to making vacuum cleaners” following the British inventor’s
aborted attempt to build an electric car. Håkan Samuelsson, chief
executive of the Swedish car company, said the billionaire’s
decision last week to abandon a £2.5bn move into the automotive
world highlights just how difficult the sector is.

4) Ministers are laying the groundwork to renationalise one of
Britain’s biggest train franchises , wrestling it from the
clutches of Germany’s state rail operator. Transport secretary
Grant Shapps told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the
Government is planning to bring Northern rail into public
ownership.

5) Dragons' Den TV star and businessman Peter Jones is mulling a
rescue plan for the property arm of Jessops , having bought the
collapsed camera chain six years ago.

What happened overnight

Asian stocks barely moved on Thursday as soft U.S. retail sales
data raised fears about the health of the world's largest
economy, sucking the steam out of a five-session rally, while
hopes of a Brexit deal kept sterling volatile.

South Korean, Australian and New Zealand indexes were all in
negative territory. Chinese shares were mostly flat while Japan's
Nikkei ticked up and U.S. stock futures were barely changed.

That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan slightly higher with gains largely led by Hong Kong's Hang
Seng index.

The S&P 500 shed 0.20% on Wednesday after data showed U.S. retail
sales contracted in September for the first time in seven months,
in a potential sign that manufacturing-led weakness could be
spreading to the broader economy.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.74 percent, or 198.37
points, to 6,862.65.

Coming up today

Unilever is the one to watch this day. The company has reported
some solid results recently, suggesting the handover from Paul
Polman to new chief executive Alan Jope came off without too many
snags. With Mr Jope now firmly in the driving seat, investors
will be looking for the Marmite-maker to be sticking on course
for its full-year expectations.

Interim results: Unilever

Preliminary results: WH Smith

Full-year results: Blackrock

Trading statement: Avast, BHP Group, Domino’s Pizza,
MoneySupermarket, National Express Group, Norcros, Petropavlovsk,
Rank Group, Rathbone Brothers, Record, Rentokil Initial

Economics: Government borrowing (UK), housing permits and
industrial production (US)

-0- Oct/17/2019 06:00 GMT