[1andrew1]

The Pound will react to the next stage of the negotiations.

Sterling investors on a knife-edge ahead of key Brussels talks
Investors are ready to rally behind the British pound and push it closer to pre-Brexit levels if Theresa May this week delivers an offer to Brussels that secures the UK a transition deal with the European Union...
But investors are on a knife-edge about Brexit, and are just as poised to dump sterling if talks break down as they are to buy it if a transition deal is agreed. “If it becomes clear there isn’t going to be a transition deal, then the pound would be all about that,” said Paul Lambert, head of currency at Insight Investment. Sterling, he added, was not about Brexit in itself. “It’s what it means for the economy. The market has priced in what it thought about Brexit, and the reason it’s giving some of that back [on expectation of a transition deal] is that ultimately the date you’re going to find out is being kicked down the road.”
For all the near-term certainty business would derive from a transition deal, Brexit would still damage the economy in the longer term, said George Magnus, associate at Oxford University’s China Centre. “From a sterling point of view, it’s good news that things seem to be moving in a direction that mitigates against a hard Brexit and a collapse of negotiations,” he said. “We shouldn’t be churlish, but Brexit is a corrosive process as far the UK economy is concerned.”
According to Lefteris Farmakis, macro strategist at UBS, the eurozone was growing significantly faster, while the UK was decelerating more quickly than expected. “That is evidence that something is not right [with the UK economy],” he said. “Against this backdrop, if you get certainty for longer, you could get a pick-up in the short term.”

https://www.ft.com/content/fc34d972-...9-c64b1c09b482

---------- Post added at 23:18 ---------- Previous post was at 22:07 ----------

From what I've heard, Ireland is seeking a fall-back position for Northern Ireland if a sufficiently wide-ranging trade deal is not agreed.
So, it wants a Plan B which I'm guessing would be Northern Ireland remaining in the Customs Union if the EU-UK trade deal would result in a hard border.