Brexit optimism fades, souring sterling.......>

FOREX: Brexit optimism fades, souring sterling (slightly)

-After a decent session Tuesday, GBP reversed course Wednesday and headed back

toward the bottom end of the week's range as a French official stated that a

disruptive No Deal Brexit has now become the central scenario. This countered

some modest optimism stemming from German Chancellor Merkel, who the British PM

was due to meet today.

-CAD traded well, initially rallying toward C$1.3250 on better-than-expected CPI

numbers (+2.0% y/y vs. Exp. +1.7%) before gains reversed on unfavourable DoE

inventories, which supressed the energy complex. Despite the intraday moves, the

week's USD/CAD low remained untroubled and is first support at C$1.3251.

-Elsewhere, the over-arching theme was generally positive, with mainland

equities positive, helping pressure JPY and CHF. USD/CHF sits close to the top

end of the week's range, with the 50-dma at 0.9842 the first target for bulls.

-Prelim European and US PMI data for August takes focus Thursday, with weekly US

jobless data also drawing focus. Fed's Kashkari speaks again Thursday ahead of

the main event from Chair Powell at the Jackson Hole conference on Friday.