The pound is ticking higher as May speaks at Davos
LONDON - The pound is pulling a little higher on Thursday, as British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech to delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Prior to May's speech, sterling was trading higher by roughly 0.4% on the day, but since she started to speak, it has extended those gains further, and around 9.30 a.m. GMT (4.30 a.m. ET) ten minutes into her speech, sterling is up 0.55% against the dollar to trade at $1.2325.
Here's the chart:
May's Davos speech is focused on broadly the same topics as her speech in the UK earlier this week, in which she confirmed that the UK will be leaving the single market and opting for a "Hard Brexit."
That speech pushed the pound substantially higher, with sterling gaining 2.6% against the dollar during the trading session on Tuesday. On Wednesday, sterling resumed a familiar pattern, dropping 1%.
Traders and forecasters remain divided on sterling's future path in 2017, with many seeing further weakness on top of its near 19% fall since the referendum, while others believe that the pound is now undervalued, and will rise over the course of 2017 as the Brexit picture becomes clearer.