Pound spike likely if May loses Article 50 appeal

London — Investors have largely priced in the British government losing its Supreme Court appeal on whether it can trigger Brexit talks without parliamentary approval, but traders — both human and computer models — will scour the ruling for clues on whether regional assemblies will get a say. British Prime Minister Theresa May will learn on Tuesday whether the court has upheld a high court decision in November that her government must get approval from fellow MPs before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal means of exiting the bloc. The government is widely expected to lose its appeal — online spreadbetter Betfair is showing a 90% probability that the Supreme Court will uphold the previous ruling. But analysts said the ruling could contain many as-yet unknowns, meaning sterling volatility — which has been elevated in recent months and drove the biggest one-day rise in the currency since the 1990s last week — is likely to spike around the time of the ruling. Key wor...

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