Pound's prospects to be shaped by 'bones' of Brexit trade talks

London

POUND traders are about to get their first insight into how the currency may fare in the next phase of the Brexit talks as negotiators move on to the potentially more complicated stage of discussing trade.

Sterling may be vulnerable as UK Prime Minister Theresa May addresses lawmakers on Monday and meets with her Cabinet ministers this week to begin mapping out what they want Britain's future trade relationship with the European Union to look like.

Meanwhile, with Mrs May under pressure from businesses to secure a transition period for when the nation leaves the bloc, the European Commission is planning to unveil its latest stance on the issue on Wednesday. Following her defeat at the hands of her own party in trying to prevent an amendment to legislation that grants lawmakers a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal, Mrs May faces another knife-edge session in Parliament this week on her plans to put a specific leaving date into law. If that wasn't enough to contend with, there is acknowledgment among leaders, including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that the next stage of the UK-EU negot…