The United Kingdom today remains in the center of most market news. First and foremost, this is due to the fact that the Bank of England today will give its first meaningful statement for 2019, where they will talk about their plans for the monetary policy of the United Kingdom. This is expected together with a report on inflation data, an important indicator regarding the health of the British economy and how it is handling the Brexit uncertainty.
Speaking of Brexit, with less than two months left until the date when the United Kingdom is supposed to leave the European Union, it is somewhat surprising that there still is no clarity on how that would happen. Negotiations have reached another stalemate where Theresa May, under the influence of Parliament, is trying to renegotiate the Irish backstop, while the European Union insists that the agreement to utilize the backstop is binding, and therefore non-negotiable.
Today Theresa May is in Brussels, speaking to the European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker regarding the contested Irish backstop. Just yesterday Donald Tusk, who is the president of the European Council, angered Brexiteer politicians in the United Kingdom by saying that they should not have campaigned for something so serious without a clear plan.
