The Monday note - 5 November 2018

• The FTSE 100 closed at 7,094.1 on Friday, down 20.5 points from the beginning of the week, as trade tensions between the USA and China eased. UK gilts stood at 1.49%. 
• GDP in the Eurozone grew by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in Q3, down from 0.4% in Q2. This was partly due to growth in Italy dropping to zero; a worse than expected figure. 
• Theresa May has told business leaders she is committed to “frictionless trade” with the EU as proposed in her Chequers plan, despite pressure from eurosceptic MPs to prioritise an independent trade policy. 
• Apple launched new laptop and tablet computers last week, prompting some analysts to predict the tech giant may achieve $100 billion of revenue in the current quarter. The news follows stock market volatility for tech shares. 

Chief Economist comments: 

Once again the saga of Brexit has seen another handbrake turn. After weeks of pundits assuring us that a no deal Brexit was a near certainty, now we hear that a withdrawal agreement might be announced soon. Any draft deal has several hurdles to clear, including the approval of May’s cabinet, the EU27 governments, the European Parliament, and the House of Commons. However, the main lesson to draw from last week is that there is far more determination on all sides to get a deal than we are being led to believe by the pundits. Time to think about how international investors will view the UK without the Brexit uncertainty.