jeremy corbyn
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Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at church, as Brexit turmoil continues, near High Wycombe, Britain April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
April 7, 2019
By Elizabeth Piper
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government held out the possibility of compromise on Sunday with the opposition Labour Party to try to win support in parliament for leaving the European Union with a deal, just days before the latest Brexit date.
Prime Minister Theresa May, weaker than ever after her Brexit deal was rejected by parliament three times, has been forced to turn to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after giving up on winning over eurosceptics in her Conservative Party, whose opposition has hardened.
With Britain’s departure now set for April 12, May’s government is running out of time to get a deal through Britain’s divided parliament, and must come up with a new plan to secure a new delay from EU leaders at a summit on Wednesday.
Britain’s biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years is mired in uncertainty, with ministers saying Brexit may never happen, businesses worried the country could leave without a deal, and others just wanting to reverse it.
In a last-ditch bid to get her deal through parliament, May opened talks with Corbyn last week to try to strike a deal on Britain’s future ties with the EU in exchange for his support for her divorce deal, the Withdrawal Agreement.
So far those talks have failed to yield any kind of accord, with Labour policy chiefs saying the government has yet to move from its “red lines”, above all over a customs union, which sets tariffs for goods imported into the EU.
“Specifically provided we are leaving the European Union then it is important that we compromise, that’s what this is about and it is through gritted teeth,” said Andrea Leadsom, the Brexit-supporting leader of the House of Commons (lower house of parliament).
“But nevertheless the most important thing is to actually leave the EU,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, adding that May’s proposal for a customs arrangement after Brexit was not too far from Labour’s desire for a customs union.
But, while describing the talks so far as positive, Labour’s business policy chief Rebecca Long-Bailey said there had as yet been no “real changes” to the deal.
“I think both sides are committed to working quite rigorously to compromise as much as possible so that we can provide that compromise Brexit deal that I think parliament desperately needs at the moment,” she told the BBC.
Shami Chakrabarti, Labour’s legal policy chief, was more blunt. “It’s hard to imagine that we are going to make real progress now without either a general election or a second referendum on any deal she can get over the line in parliament,” she told Sky News.
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Britain voted by 52 to 48 percent in 2016 to leave the EU, and parliament, May’s cabinet and the country at large remain deeply polarized over the terms of Brexit and even whether to depart at all.
Despite the lack of convergence between the two major parties over a deal, there was one thing they did agree on – time is running out for Brexit to be secured.
May, who has been verbally mauled by members of her own party for turning to Labour, herself warned Brexit-supporting lawmakers that “the longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all”.
In an attempt to avoid falling out of the EU without a deal, she again heads to Brussels this week to ask for a further delay until June 30 – something EU leaders have said requires her setting out an alternative path to getting her deal approved.
Any extension would require unanimous approval from the other EU countries, all weary of Britain’s Brexit indecision, and could come with conditions. EU summit chair Donald Tusk plans to propose an extension of a year, which could be shortened if Britain’s parliament eventually ratifies the deal.
But even the threat of losing Brexit has so far failed to change the minds of hardline eurosceptic Conservative lawmakers, and some are now suggesting that Britain make the EU’s life a misery if Britain is forced to accept a long delay.
“If we are forced to remain in we must be the most difficult member possible,” Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the European Research Group, a Conservative eurosceptic group, told Sky News.
“When the multi-annual financial framework comes forward, if we’re still in, this is our one in seven year opportunity to veto the budget and to be really very difficult.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Theresa May gives a news conference after a cabinet meeting following yesterday’s alternative Brexit options vote, outside Downing Street, London, Britain April 2, 2019. Jack Taylor/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
April 6, 2019
By Costas Pitas
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday that the longer it takes to find a comprise with the opposition Labour Party to secure a parliamentary majority for a Brexit deal, the less likely it is that Britain will leave the European Union.
May has so far failed to secure backing for her negotiated agreement with Brussels as some Conservative lawmakers and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government, have voted it down.
She has since turned to the opposition Labour Party in a bid to secure a majority for an orderly Brexit although its leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Saturday he was waiting for May to move her Brexit red lines.
“The fact is that on Brexit there are areas where the two main parties agree: we both want to end free movement, we both want to leave with a good deal, and we both want to protect jobs,” May said in comments released by her Downing Street office.
“That is the basis for a compromise that can win a majority in Parliament and winning that majority is the only way to deliver Brexit.”
“The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all,” she said.
May has asked EU leaders to postpone Britain’s exit from the bloc until June 30. The EU, which gave her a two-week extension the last time she asked, insists she must first show a viable plan to secure agreement on her thrice-rejected divorce deal in the British parliament.
It is the latest twist in a saga which leaves Britain, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, struggling to find a way to honor a 2016 referendum vote to take the country out of the globe’s largest trading bloc.
May reiterated on Saturday her hope that lawmakers would approve a deal to allow Britain to leave the bloc as quickly as possible.
“My intention is to reach an agreement with my fellow EU leaders that will mean if we can agree a deal here at home we can leave the EU in just six weeks,” she said.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in London, Britain, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
April 6, 2019
By Costas Pitas and Francesco Guarascio
LONDON/BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to move the “red lines” that have blocked a deal for Britain to leave the EU, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Saturday, after May launched talks with him in a last-ditch bid to save Brexit.
With Britain due to leave the bloc on April 12 and no sign of her minority government being able to pass a deal through parliament on its own, May turned to Labour Party leader Corbyn in recent days in the hope of securing a bi-partisan agreement.
A deal with Corbyn could be May’s last chance to deliver Brexit without either a long delay or leaving with no deal at all. But Corbyn said the prime minister had yet to show the flexibility that Labour would need to say yes.
“I’m waiting to see the red lines move,” he told the BBC. “I hope we can reach a decision in parliament this week which will prevent a crashing out.”
No talks have been arranged yet between the two sides for this weekend, a Labour source told Reuters.
May’s decision to seek an agreement with Corbyn was an astounding reversal after months of saying her plan for Brexit was the only possible course. It reflects weeks of high drama in parliament that saw May’s deal rejected by a historic majority but no agreement emerge on an alternative plan.
While both major parties have said they are committed to carrying out the results of Britain’s 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU, Labour has long demanded a softer break than May has been willing to consider.
In particular, Labour seeks a customs union with the EU after Britain leaves, which would cross one of the “red lines” May set out at the start of negotiations by preventing Britain from setting its own trade tariffs.
Many Labour lawmakers also want a second referendum on the terms of Brexit, which May says would be a fundamental threat to Britain’s democracy after the vote to leave. Her decision to open talks with Labour infuriated Brexit supporters in May’s Conservative party and divided her cabinet.
With time running out, May has asked EU leaders to postpone Britain’s exit from the bloc until June 30. The EU, which gave her a two-week extension the last time she asked, insists she must first show a viable plan to secure agreement on her thrice-rejected divorce deal in the British parliament.
EU leaders have also indicated they would be more likely to offer a longer extension of up to a year, to avoid setting a firm new deadline in a few months’ time that would cause yet another cliff-edge crisis.
HAMMOND OPTIMISTIC
Finance minister Philip Hammond told reporters in Bucharest on Saturday he was “optimistic” of reaching some form of agreement with Labour and that the government had no red lines in the talks.
Hammond said he expected more exchanges of documents on Saturday between the government and Labour in a bid to reach a deal. He also signaled optimism about next Wednesday’s EU summit, saying most EU states agreed on a need to delay Brexit.
“Most of the colleagues that I am talking to accept we will need longer to complete this process,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union finance ministers.
Britons voted in 2016 by a 52 to 48 percent margin for Brexit. The two main parties, parliament and the nation at large remain profoundly split over the terms for departure, or even over whether to leave at all.
A delay in Brexit of more than a few months would require Britain to participate in May 23 elections to the European parliament. It is a prospect May and many in her Conservative party are anxious to avoid, fearing a backlash from voters.
“Going to the EU elections for the Conservative Party, or indeed for the Labour Party, and telling our constituents why we haven’t been able to deliver Brexit I think would be an existential threat,” junior education minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC radio on Saturday.
“I would go further and say…it would be the suicide note of the Conservative Party.”
(Editing by Peter Graff)
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FILE PHOTO: People shop at Macy’s Department store in New York City, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 5, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – Following are the five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.
1/ THE I WORD
As the U.S. yield curve makes up its mind whether to invert or not, investors seeking reassurance that we are in a Goldilocks era of non-inflationary growth will get to scour two monthly price gauges this week.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department is expected to report that its March Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent on the month and 1.8 percent over the year – a reading that would reinforce subdued underlying inflation and validate the Fed’s almost about-face after four hikes last year.
CPI – a proxy for overall inflation that factors into cost of living adjustments for Social Security – rose 1.5 percent year to February, the smallest increase since September 2016. The latest reading of the Fed’s favorite inflation measure rose 1.8 percent in the year to January, below its 2 percent target.
Fed officials have started alluding to a new economic reality of slowish growth and little upward price pressure. Even as wages creep higher, improved productivity curbs firms’ costs.
Minutes of the March Fed policy meeting, to be released on Wednesday, will be cross checked for references to the new “patient” approach and “muted” inflation. The March producer price index, a glimpse of pipeline price pressures, is scheduled for Thursday.
For a graphic on U.S. Core CPI and PCE, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2CYPJ1h
2/ MARIO TO THE RESCUE
Just a month since the European Central Bank put plans to normalize policy on hold and delayed a rate hike into 2020, further signs of weakness in the economy and a whiff of panic among investors puts the spotlight back on the central bank.
A woeful set of German industrial orders data this week pushed German Bund yields back into negative territory and though a U.S.-China trade deal could be in sight, it looks like difficult times ahead for Europe.
No policy changes are expected at Wednesday’s ECB meeting, especially since some board members are traveling to Washington for the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings.
But talk of tiered rates to ease pressure on banks, global recession fears, Brexit, and a sense of panic that has pushed 10-year German bond yields back below zero percent, all suggest ECB chief Mario Draghi’s news conference may prove lively.
Investors will also keep an eye out for further details on cheap loans known as the targeted long-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) — one of the few policy tools left in the kit after the end of QE — and what the ECB will do to incentivize banks to take it up.
For a graphic on German Bund yields hover around zero, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2HYkJ5L
3/ WATCH YOUR CHINA
An unexpected recovery in China factory activity surveys offered investors a glimmer of hope the stimulus injected in one of the world’s major growth engines may be yielding results.
Trade data due out on Friday could provide the next clue that could help investors regain confidence as they gauge whether the slowdown is bottoming out.
That said, the recovery remains feeble and analysts believe it is still highly-dependent on how the trade negotiations with Washington go.
Markets took some hope from an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday that Washington and Beijing could announce a trade deal within four weeks while Chinese President Xi Jinping was reported as saying progress was being made. But Trump also warned Beijing it would be difficult to allow trade to continue without a pact.
Many believe the Chinese economy may still need more stimulus either way. Looking at the pattern of past decisions by the People’s Bank of China, a decision to cut bank reserve requirements may be announced by mid-April, economists say.
For a graphic on China reserve requirement ratios and the yuan, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2CXO8c7
4/ THE LONG GOODBYE
After British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request to the European Council to delay Brexit until up to June 30, focus now shifts to a meeting next week where EU leaders will discuss a proposal to offer Britain a flexible extension of up to a year.
After the British parliament failed to approve a withdrawal agreement, May started talks this week with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the hope of breaking the Brexit deadlock, but markets are not getting too excited about it.
While one-month risk reversals for the pound, a gauge of demand for the British currency in the derivatives market, have rebounded from a 2-1/2 year low hit last month, they still remained far below levels seen earlier this year, indicating overall sentiment remained bearish.
Implied volatility measures also indicated caution with one-month gauges for the pound remaining elevated despite a dip this week compared to the euro and the Japanese yen.
For a graphic on GBP implied vol curve, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2WNbJUi
5/ IS IT SPRING YET?
It is that time of year, when central bank governors, finance ministers, policy makers and investors from around the globe gather in Washington for the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. A Group of 20 central bankers and finance ministers meeting takes place on the sidelines.
There is no shortage of topics to talk about. Concerns over the health of the global economy amid trade wars and other political uncertainties such as Brexit have sent jitters through markets.
Major central banks’ efforts to navigate their way back to normal after years of low interest rates and easy money following the 2008 financial crisis have not been without bumps. Central bank independence has been questioned in many countries.
Speaking in the run up to the gathering of the great and good of policy making and finance, IMF chief Christine Lagarde has called the outlook for growth “precarious” and warned that years of high public debt and low interest rates over the past decade have left many countries with limited room to act when the next downturn arrives.
For a graphic on IMF April Outlook, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2WL1ekz
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker, Abhinav Ramnarayan and Saikat Chatterjee in London, Alden Bentley in New York and Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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A combination photo shows a copy of a letter from Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, to European Council President, Donald Tusk, regarding Brexit in London, Britain April 5, 2019. Downing Street/Handout via REUTERS
April 5, 2019
By Alistair Smout and Jan Strupczewski
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday asking for a delay of Brexit until up to June 30, but said she still hopes to get Britain out of the EU earlier to avoid it participating in European elections.
Britain is now due to leave the EU in a week, but May has been forced to seek more time after Britain’s divided parliament failed to approve a withdrawal agreement.
“The United Kingdom proposes that this period should end on 30 June 2019,” May said in the letter. Such a long extension means Britain would be required to hold elections for the European parliament.
May said Britain would prepare for such an election, but she still hoped that an agreement would be reached sooner, allowing the extension to be ended early.
“The government will want to agree a timetable for ratification that allows the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union before 23 May 2019 and therefore cancel the European Parliament elections, but will continue to make responsible preparations to hold the elections should this not prove possible,” she said.
The chairman of European Union leaders, Donald Tusk, is likely to offer Britain a flexible extension of the date of its departure from the EU of up to one year, with the possibility of leaving sooner, a senior EU official said.
The official said the option could be presented to May at the EU summit on Brexit on April 10 in Brussels.
“The only reasonable way out would be a long but flexible extension. I would call it a ‘flextension’,” the official said.
“We could give the UK a year-long extension, automatically terminated once the Withdrawal Agreement has been accepted and ratified by the House of Commons,” the official said.
“And even if this were not possible, then the UK would still have enough time to rethink its Brexit strategy. A short extension if possible, and a long one if necessary. It seems to be a good scenario for both sides, as it gives the UK all the necessary flexibility, while avoiding the need to meet every few weeks to further discuss Brexit extensions.”
Britain’s exit from the EU, nearly three years since the country voted to leave the bloc, is now in doubt because the British parliament cannot decide what exit terms it wants.
May offered to quit to get her deal passed but it was defeated for a third time last Friday, the day Britain was originally due to leave the EU.
She is now in talks with opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to find a way out of the deadlock, but it is not clear if they can find a solution in the next few days.
European officials say a request for an extension would have to be backed by sound arguments why the EU should grant it.
“If we are not able to understand the reason why the UK is asking for an extension, we cannot give a positive answer,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters in Bucharest, when asked about the possible 12-month extension.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, Gabriela Baczynska, Francesco Guarascio, Alistair Smout and Michael Holden, Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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European Council President Donald Tusk delivers a speech during a debate on the outcome of the latest European Summit on Brexit, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler
April 5, 2019
(Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk is proposing to make an offer of a 12-month “flexible” extension to the UK’s Brexit date, the BBC reported on Friday, citing a senior European Union source.
The plan would let UK leave sooner if the British parliament ratifies a deal but will need to be agreed by EU leaders next week at a summit, the BBC said.
After her EU withdrawal deal was rejected three times by lawmakers, British Prime Minister Theresa May invited opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for talks in parliament to try to plot a way out of the crisis.
May said earlier this week she would seek a delay that is “as short as possible” to the current Brexit date of April 12.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox told BBC that if the talks between UK’s Conservative and Labour parties fail, the delay is “likely to be a long one”.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn holds the Political Declaration, setting out the framework for the future UK-EU relations, at his office in the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain April 2, 2019. Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERS
April 4, 2019
By Elizabeth Piper
LONDON (Reuters) – Twenty-five lawmakers in Britain’s opposition Labour Party have urged their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to go the “extra step” if there is a chance of agreeing a Brexit deal in talks with Prime Minister Theresa May.
May, whose deal to leave the European Union has been rejected in parliament three times, has turned to Corbyn in a last-ditch bid to get the support of his Labour Party for an agreement she signed with the bloc’s leaders in November.
Corbyn has welcomed the talks, but the invitation poses a threat for his divided Labour Party – some members and lawmakers are demanding a second referendum on any deal while others fear being blamed for helping pass May’s much-criticized agreement.
The 25 lawmakers, almost all from areas which voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, said the talks “represent a real opportunity” for Corbyn, a way to get a deal which would meet Labour’s demands for a Brexit that protected workers’ rights.
They reminded him in the letter that he had told May Labour would support a “sensible deal” that included “a customs union and no hard border in Ireland”, protected jobs and workers, environmental and consumer standards.
“We believe you are close to achieving that in the coming days,” said the letter whose signatories include Labour’s schools spokesman Mike Kane and three lawmakers who last week voted in favor of May’s deal: Rosie Cooper, Caroline Flint and Kevin Barron.
“At the general election, we were clear about respecting the 2016 vote, and about securing those Labour goals. Therefore, we feel if compromise is necessary to achieve this deal and avoid fighting the European elections, we should go the extra step to secure this.”
Corbyn, a long-standing critic of the EU, has long said he wants Britain to leave the bloc with a deal, respecting the 2016 referendum when 52 percent of voters backed leaving the bloc in Britain’s biggest shift in policy since World War Two.
But the opposition leader has been content to watch the governing Conservative Party take on Brexit, a move that has not only divided the country, but has all but redrawn the political landscape by widening rifts in the main parties.
In a last gamble, May announced she would bring Corbyn into talks to try to find a way to break the deadlock in parliament, which has voted against leaving the bloc without an agreement.
Corbyn is pressing his desire for a “permanent customs union” and alignment with the EU’s single market in the talks – red lines for a prime minister who had made controlling immigration one of the key stones of her Brexit policy.
But the Labour leader is under growing pressure to make any agreement with May conditional on holding a confirmatory referendum on the deal, or asking the public to back it in another vote.
The 25 lawmakers said such a vote was not part of Labour policy.
“Our policy, agreed by members, accepts that the public voted to leave the EU and seeks a deal that secure jobs and rights at work. It does not require a confirmatory ballot on any deal that meets those conditions,” the letter said.
“Delaying for many months in the hope of a second referendum will simply divide the country further and add uncertainty for business. A second referendum would be exploited by the far right, damage the trust of many core Labour voters and reduce our chances of winning a general election.”
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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A person walks past an EU and a British flag in London, Britain, April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
April 4, 2019
By Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain could ask the European Union for a long Brexit delay next week if crisis talks between Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and the opposition Labour Party fail to find a way out of the impasse over the divorce from the European Union.
Brexit is now in mired in doubt, nearly three years since the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting 52 percent to 48 to leave the bloc. Supporters fear betrayal and opponents are pushing for another referendum.
May, who has already delayed Brexit once, is now trying to find a way to get a divorce deal approved by courting opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who wants to agree a much closer post-Brexit economic relationship with the EU.
“The important thing now is that in any extension that we get from the EU, we have an absolute clarity that as soon as we’ve done the deal, we are able to bring that extension to an end,” finance minister Philip Hammond told ITV.
When asked if he was comfortable about a long extension, he said he was not comfortable about it, but that the defeat of May’s deal on Friday, the very day that Britain was due to have left the EU, meant “we are where we are.”
Corbyn, a veteran socialist campaigner whom May has repeatedly derided as unfit for office, said on Wednesday that she had not moved far enough in talks which continued, at a lower level, on Thursday.
Labour’s Brexit point man, Keir Starmer, and Corbyn’s strategy chief, Seumas Milne, were seen entering the Cabinet Office with May’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay on Thursday. May’s de-facto deputy, David Lidington, will also attend.
The aim, May’s spokesman said, was to have intensive discussions. A further meeting between May and Corbyn will happen when there is a reason for one, her spokesman said.
Hammond said that if talks failed, the government would present some ideas from the discussions to parliament. Lawmakers may have to sacrifice some of their Easter holidays, the government said.
The Brexit vote exposed deep fractures in British society, though the crisis it triggered has also shown a political system in dire need of reform. It is unclear how, when or if Britain will leave the EU.
BREXIT CHAOS
The chaos has raised fears of a disorderly exit that would shock the British economy, roil financial markets and even hurt global trade. The European Central Bank has warned that markets need to price in a no-deal Brexit.
Concern about Brexit is slowing the German economy, leading top economic institutes to slash their forecasts for 2019 growth by more than half on Thursday.
The House of Commons on Wednesday approved legislation which would force May to seek a Brexit delay to prevent a no-deal departure on April 12.
“If passed … this bill would place a severe constraint on the government’s ability to negotiate an extension,” May’s spokesman said.
After more than two years of tortuous discussions about the minutiae of the separation, EU leaders are weary of London’s failure to agree its own divorce and patience is wearing thin.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels that Britain would not get any further short delays unless its parliament ratified a deal by April 12 – the date set by EU leaders as the effective cut-off for avoiding the European Parliament elections.
The EU is discussing different options: a delay until the end of the year, next Spring or the end of 2020 though in recent days discussions have focused mostly on a one year delay.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet residents who live along the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland during a visit to Dublin on Thursday to discuss Brexit to learn what impact any return of frontier checks would have on their lives.
Merkel will use her trip to meet Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to consider the border situation and how to prevent a no-deal “hard Brexit”.
UBS Wealth Management said it was unlikely the parliamentary deadlock would be broken in the near term so a long extension to the divorce window, known as Article 50, was likely.
“Failure to secure the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement in the coming days would result in a long extension to Article 50,” UBS said. “This extension will be granted by the EU27, with conditions.”
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; additional reporting by William Schomberg; Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels and Paul Carrell in Berlin, Editing by William Maclean)
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The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 4, 2019
(Reuters) – European stocks took a breather on Thursday after hitting an eight-month high in the previous session, with banking mergers in focus while investors awaited more developments in U.S.-China trade talks.
At 0720 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.4 percent, having risen more than 3 percent climb in the previous four sessions on hopes that a U.S.-China trade deal could be imminent after both sides reported progress.
Commerzbank shares rose 3 percent as the race to acquire the German lender heated up. The Financial Times reported that Italy’s UniCredit was preparing a bid as Deutsche Bank’s attempt faces obstacles.
The FT said UniCredit was unlikely to gatecrash current merger negotiations with Deutsche but might make a move if these fell apart.
The news is likely to rekindle expectations of further consolidation in the battered European banking sector, which has underperformed the STOXX 600 this year. It was also among leading decliners on Thursday.
Britain’s exporter-heavy FTSE 100 continued to be pressured by a rise in sterling, boosted by hopes of progress or at least a longer Brexit delay as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks a joint approach with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to end a parliamentary deadlock.
Dampening sentiment was data out of Germany that showed an unexpected drop in industrial orders in February, hit by a slump in foreign demand.
Saga Plc shares crashed nearly 40 percent, on course for its worst daily performance, after the over-50s tourism and insurance firm forecast lower annual underlying pretax profit and cut its dividend as it struggles to keep up in a competitive motor and home insurance sector.
Steel maker Thyssenkrupp fell 1.5 percent as workers demanded substantial guarantees for jobs and plants even if a planned joint venture with India’s Tata Steel falls apart.
Novartis dipped after an influential non-profit organization said the $4 million to $5 million value put on a course of its experimental gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is excessive.
Among bright spots was the British home repairs provider HomeServe Plc, which led gains on the STOXX after forecasting full-year adjusted pretax profit at the upper end of market expectations.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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Britain’s Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock arrives at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
April 4, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will only be able to pass her Brexit divorce deal with the help of opposition Labour lawmakers because eurosceptics in her party are opposed to the agreement, the health minister Matt Hancock said.
May held talks with opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday on how to break the Brexit impasse, enraging some lawmakers in her own party.
“Delivering the prime minister’s deal on Conservative votes has been tried and has not succeeded, the prime minister has done everything she possible can to get that deal through, and so the only option left open to her is to seek Labour votes,” Hancock told BBC radio.
(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill and Paul Sandle)
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