The pound is ending the week on a positive note. The British currency has gained 0.11% against the Australian dollar in early trading on Friday, trading at 1.9044 as of 5:38 AM UTC. The Aussie is dragged down by conflicting headlines related to the Sino-US trade war.
Negotiators and people familiar with the matter from both sides told media that the world’s two largest economies couldn’t reach consensus on several issues, including tariff rollbacks. Investors were concerned that China would make a step back after the US Congress passed two bills aimed at supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, Chinese officials said yesterday that they would like to see a “phase one” trade deal signed sooner than later. Chinese President Xi Jinping himself stated that he didn’t want a trade war, but is not afraid to retaliate when needed. He said a few hours ago:
“We want to work for a ‘phase one’ agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality. When necessary we will fight back, but we have been working actively to try not to have a trade war. We did not initiate this trade war and this is not something we want.”
Conservatives Raise 87% of All Political Donations
The pound has benefited from the Brexit optimism, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party is doing well in opinion polls. So far, the Conservatives have raised 26 times more money in political donations compared to the opposition Labour Party, after the first week of the campaign. The UK election is scheduled for December 12.
Johnson’s party raised 5.7 million pounds compared to 218,500 pounds raised by Labours. Labour Chairman Ian Lavery commented the figures:
“While the Conservative Party is in the pockets of vested interests and the super-rich, we are proud that the Labour Party is funded by hundreds of thousands of people donating what they can afford to build a fairer society.”