For foreign exchange markets, the supposed crunch time in Brexit talks next week is looking decidedly soggy.
Key figures in the talks between the UK and the EU have suggested that the two sides could find common ground on the last outstanding issues next week, raising hopes that a trade deal could be agreed before the end of the year.
But after the many tunnels, landing zones and numerous hard deadlines that were postponed over the years, traders and investors in currency markets are finding it hard to get as excited about the next showdown moment as they used to.
“We think a deal will be done but is next week really a crunch time? We’ve been down this road before,” says Ian Tew, head of G10 FX spot trading at Barclays. Even as chancellor Rishi Sunak prepares to unveil next week the largest downgrade in UK economic performance and the public finances since the second world war, nervousness about talks has subsided for now.
A year ago, the promise of a…