The Dollar is marginally weaker as markets await the results of the US mid-term elections. Voter turnout has reportedly been very high but whether this will help the Republicans, which control both houses, or the Democrats who are hoping to at the very least regain control of the House of Representatives, is open to debate. Ultimately the Dollar has traded in a very narrow range since the turn of the month, struggling to build on its 2% gain in October.
Sterling got another small lift up from news that the EU was preparing to back a compromise proposal on the Irish border to resolve the last major hurdle in Brexit negotiations. The Brexit related news flow has become more encouraging in the past week and yet the GBP/USD cross has only edged marginally higher in the past three trading sessions from 1.30 to 1.306. Markets are seemingly showing some signs of Brexit fatigue, increasingly immune to news headlines not backed up by both British and EU officials, and are also having to contend with still soft UK macro data. Weaker-than-expected BRC retail sales and services PMI numbers for October were the latest to suggest that GDP growth may have slowed in early Q4.
