POUND LIVE: Sterling flat but Brussels bristles over €13bn Brexit black hole reality
THE POUND is totally flat at the start of the day as the bloc begins to worry over how to best fill a €13bn black hole in its budget after Brexit.
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9.20am - UPDATE - FTSE first hour
The FTSE 100 is enjoying a solid start to the day boosted by supermarket giant Morrisons' shares rising almost 5 per cent, after healthy sales over the holiday trading period.
The blue-chip index is up 7,724.59 a rise of 28.08 points with the aforementioned Morrisons, Micro Focus and Marks & Spencer making up the top three risers.
Majestic Wine is up 0.2 per cent after its latest trading statement confirmed that the UK bought and drank a lot of wine over over Christmas period.
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8.29am - UPDATE - Top bank eyes life in Brexit Britain
A Spanish bank is looking to move its headquarters to London because bosses believe the capital will keep its place as the centre for European finance.
Alantra Partners SA, which is currently based in Madrid, is reportedly eyeing up new offices in the City despite Project Fear predictions of a post-Brexit exodus of financial institutions from the capital.
The investment bank oversees £3.3billion (€3.7billion) of assets and employs some 350 staff across 21 counties.
Two people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg the company is considering how many employees to relocate to the UK if the move goes ahead.
However, the plans are still currently private, and a spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.
The Pound is up a very thin 0.06 per cent against the Euro, but down 0.23 per cent against the Dollar.
GETTY
7.50am - UPDATE - Pound flat as budget concerns mint Euro gains
The Pound is flat against the Euro at 1.1333, a 0 per cent movement on the day so far. Sterling is down 0.13 per cent against the Dollar to 1.3552.
The flattening of the Pound against the Euro comes as Brussels attempts to squeeze the EU’s 27 member states into paying more money into the bloc’s joint budget, to make up the €13bn Brexit black hole.
As such Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, is telling European governments to remove the imposed cap of 1 per cent of the EU’s gross national income on the bloc’s common budget.
Mr Juncker described the post-Brexit cash-grab as the equivalent of just “one cup of coffee a day” for the European taxpayer.
Mr Juncker told a conference in Brussels on Monday: “I think Europe is worth more than one cup of coffee a day."
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7.50am - UPDATE - Germany still an industrial powerhouse
German trade figures have smashed their forecasts after German companies grew their exports by 4.1 per cent in November, sailing past the 1.2 per cent gain that had been predicted.
The revised data suggests German manufacturers and service companies benefitted from the growing global economy, and that domestic demand was also solid.
Yesterday car giant Mercedes Benz renewed its position as the world's number one carmaker.
