GBP/USD closes in on 1.3500 in European morning trade
The quid is hitting fresh lows on the day now with cable easing back towards 1.3500 and testing the 23.6 retracement level of the recent swing higher @ 1.3509.

BOE announces its latest monetary policy decision – 17 December 2020

The pound is one of the top performers today, alongside the aussie and kiwi
Cable is trading to fresh highs since April 2018 above 1.3600 but that also owes partly to the weaker dollar story. The pound on its own is trading higher on the day and that is more clearly reflected in EUR/GBP and GBP/JPY.

The usual stuff that we’ve been hearing for months on end
In this final stretch of talks, transparency & unity are important as ever: Debriefed @Europarl_EN Conference of Presidents this morning on EU-UK negotiations.
For those who missed out, talks are likely to stretch on until the weekend again in hopes of a breakthrough or compromise.

SNB chief, Thomas Jordan, remarks
This refers to the decision yesterday . The SNB has been given a free pass on this for many years now but the US finally decided to put it on the list this time around.

Latest data released by Eurostat – 17 December 2020
The preliminary report can be found . No change to the initial estimates as this just reaffirms more subdued inflation pressures going into the year-end in the euro area.

Latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending 11 December 2020
–  -1.2%
– Market index 857.3 vs 848.3 prior
– Refinancing index 4,014.5 vs 3,959.2 prior
The jump in mortgage activity in the past week comes from a rebound in purchases after the drop in the previous week, with refinancing activity also seen picking up

BBC political correspondent, Nick Eardley, reports
From four nations Christmas call:Christmas relaxation will go aheadBroad agreement no to change regulations, but final working still being worked onMuch stronger advice coming as soon as today. Some parts of UK may toughen guidance on households mixing.

An update to the vaccine situation in the UK after the rollout on 8 December
There are 137,897 people that have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine so far across the UK, with lawmaker, Nadhim Zahawi, tweeting out that:

One last pain trade before the year comes to a close?
That could very well be the case for USD/JPY as it starts to near the support region from the early November lows at 103.18-19, with the pair continuing to keep in a downwards trajectory since the middle of the year.