The British pound rose to a daily high of 1.2776 today after news of British Prime Minister Theresa May's attempt to win the support of the DUP on the Brexit deal, which will be voted next week, but sterling soon fell near its day low and currently trading around 1.2735.
This decline was the result of May's failure to persuade the Northern Irish Party, which backs its government to support the Brexit deal, while Theresa May refuses to back down from its agreement which is keeping close trade ties with the EU after departure in March.
Theresa May postponed the vote on the deal last month to try to convince opponents, but it appears that she is on track to lose the vote which is scheduled for voting on Jan. 15.
On the other hand, the US-China talks held in Beijing ended today after it lasted longer than expected with more details on those talks will be released soon, raising hopes of the markets on the possibility of avoiding a trade dispute that could harm the global economy.
In light of the hopes of these talks, global equities continued to gain to reach their highest level in almost a month. Crude oil prices also reached their highest level since December 17 at 51.27 dollars a barrel after a seven consecutive days rally.
Also, the US dollar continues to suffer from the partial closure of the US government, and hit its lowest level against a basket of currencies over two and a half months, where the dollar index at the beginning of the week reached 95.64.
With the government close for almost three weeks, the Democrats plan to introduce a bill to reopen the Treasury Department, the Securities Commission and many other agencies that have been in partial closure since December 22. US President Donald Trump still insists on a massive wall on the US border.
