The pound is slipping against the dollar on Monday morning, with traders reluctant to push sterling much higher after last week's late rally.
Sterling climbed close to 2% against the dollar during the final two days of last week after the High Court ruled that Parliament must vote on the triggering of Article 50, the process that begins Britain's exit from the European Union. Many in the City are Remainers and the verdict boosted hopes that Parliament can help moderate the "Hard Brexit" tendencies of Theresa May's cabinet and win concessions on things like Single Market access, which is crucial for finance.
However, the verdict is being challenged by the government in the Supreme Court and the outcome is far from clear either way. The EU Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt told Business Insider in an interview on Monday that the idea of Europe allowing Britain to continue financial passporting into the EU without it accepting freedom of movement "just doesn't make any sense."
The dollar is also in the ascendancy, benefiting from news that the FBI has cleared Hilary Clinton over the latest batch of emails it was looking at. Traders are hoping this makes a Clinton presidency more likely.
As a result, the pound is struggling to hang on to last week's gains, stumbling over the weekend and slipping again on Monday morning. Here's how the pound looks against the dollar at close to 7.50 a.m. GMT (2.50 a.m. ET):
It's a similar story with the euro - here's how sterling looks against the euro at close to 7.55 a.m. GMT (2.55 a.m. ET):
