Gilts have traded higher this..........>

GILT SUMMARY: Gilts have traded higher this morning as cross-party Brexit talks

have been taking place before PM May meets Cabinet ministers individually at

Number 10 ahead of Chequers. 

- The Dec 18 Gilt future is up 28 ticks at 120.74, having traded in a range of

120.59-120.74 today.

- Reports have just emerged that the cross-party talks have now finished,

somewhat early than expected. Downing Street have said there is "nothing in the

diary" for more meetings with opposition MPs over the weekend, but gave no

indication over whether any progress was made towards finding a solution to

May's Brexit deal. 

- Across the curve most of the action this morning has been seen in the belly

where the 10p-yr yield fell by 2.5bps to 1.608%. The long end has underperformed

the short ends, both sections seeing yields fall. 

- The 2s10s is 0.6bps flatter, 5s30s 0.9bps steeper. 

- Retail sales data for December this morning was worse than expected, showing a

contraction of 0.9% M/M.