The pound sterling sold off 3 big figures on rumours that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would resign. Anyone from the UK, or any impartial observer, knows full well that this would be the most bullish thing imaginable for the country - the pound should have GONE UP several hundred ticks on the rumour that this useless unelected lump of smirking lard was going to be given the boot! It's a bit like when Oscar Lafontaine resigned as German finance minister, and bunds ramped over 100 ticks in seconds. I therefore pronounce this the most irrational move in the history of the financial markets.
lol, I was just thinking the same thing! We nearly had street parties when Blair left......then came Brown! Bring back the Iron Lady I say, even though she's gone gaga she would probably do a better job
I could imagine Carla Bruni pleading with Sarkozy: 'Please,I can't shake his glistening hand or kiss that cheek' and then quickly burning her clothes in the hotel room grate afterwards.
I take it you were long? Actually, it seems that the move didn't have anything to do with politics, but rather everything to do with a US bank buying USD vs the majors in chunky size... Supposedly on the back of the Rio Tinto/Chinalco merger collapse (unwinding the pre-hedge or something).
That's what I heard as well, on Bloomberg, apparently the US bank started the slide and it was exacerbated by the Brown rumours.
The Brown-rumor was bullshit anyways, he would never step down 1 day before the elections, maybe after the results of the euro/local polls come in, but not before.