European session review: GBP mostly higher, supported by lingering hopes for post-Brexit trade deal

GBP rose against most of its major rivals in the European session on Monday as market participants still hope that a trade deal between Britain and the EU can be completed by Friday, despite reports about remaining "massive divergences". 

Reuters reported today that the EU source told that UK-EU talks in London over the weekend were “quite difficult” and “massive divergences” still remain on fisheries, economic fair play and settling disputes. The EU negotiating team will stay in London for more talks in the coming days. Meanwhile, the UK PM Boris Johnson's spokesman reiterated that the UK remains committed to securing a free trade agreement with the EU as soon as possible but noted that they are not to change their negotiating position. He also confirmed that there are still differences on fisheries and a level playing field. In its turn, the European Commission (EC) stated that the block is fully concentrated on Brexit negotiations right now. It also added that there will be changes at the end of 2020 regardless of whether there is a new UK deal or not.

Good news on the coronavirus vaccine front provided additional support to the pound. Moderna (MRNA) announced it plans to request an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and conditional approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The company reaffirmed that the data analysis indicates that the efficacy of its vaccine was 94.1%.