UK PM clinching sudden deal may be biggest Brexit risk for Pound traders

As the clock ticks toward the October deadline, the worry for some is that a deal could come late at night, taking any announcement into the so-called witching hour between New York and Tokyo trading

As markets bet on a no-deal Brexit, the real shock for pound traders could be Prime Minister Boris Johnson clinching a sudden deal. 

Sterling has tumbled in recent weeks as Johnson’s “do or die” stance has led traders to increase bets against the currency on the prospects of a no-deal Brexit on October 31. Yet a surge of nearly 1% in a minute on Thursday, on a bare glimmer of flexibility from European leaders, gave a taste of how investors might be caught out by an agreement.

A no-deal Brexit is now the base-case scenario for Barclays Plc economists who see it