Sterling rallied against the Euro and a weaker Dollar following the ruling this morning by the Supreme Court that Prime Minister Johnson’s request to the Queen earlier this month to suspend parliament for five weeks was unlawful.
The final ruling by the highest court in the land was unanimous, with all eleven Supreme Court judges ruling that the suspension of parliament until 14th October was now null and void. Members of parliament are expected to return to the House of Commons tomorrow. The ruling has led to calls for Johnson to resign and will arguably make it harder for the government to ignore a recent law which forces it to ask the EU for another Article 50 time extension in the event of Parliament failing to pass a Brexit deal by 19th October.
A range-bound Dollar sold off after the release of data this afternoon showing that US consumer confidence had fallen by more than expected in September. The Conference Board consumer confidence index retreated to 125.1 from a downwardly revised 134.2 in August, the second consecutive monthly fall in confidence. Buoyant US consumer confidence has contributed to resilient retail sales and near record-high US equity levels. The safe-haven currencies have outperformed this afternoon, with USD/CHF down to a 3-week low of 0.985 and USD/JPY dropping to just above 107.
