European stocks and sterling down as Brexit deal hits the rocks
Sterling tumbles as Brexit deal hopes crumble; Asia rises overnight on US-China trade hopes; emergency-market currencies firm on soft dollar
London — Sterling tumbled and the rest of Europe’s share markets groaned on Thursday, after a long-awaited Brexit agreement was thrown into chaos as Britain’s chief negotiator for the deal quit just 12 hours after it had been unveiled. Up until that point markets had looked relatively calm. Asia had cheered news that China and the US were back in contact about their bitter trade dispute and oil was holding steady again having snapped out of a record losing streak. But then came the hammer blow. London’s Brexit minister Dominic Raab quit in protest at UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal for leaving the EU. “No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement,” he said in his resignation letter. Cue a sterling meltdown. The currency slumped a full cent to $1.2830 and though that made the FTSE stronger — a weaker pound makes life...
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