The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is going to be Liz Truss, Sir Graham Brady of the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party announced. Boris Johnson is set to resign Tuesday 6th, tomorrow, followed by the Queen’s appointment of the new Prime Minister Liz Truss. The cost of living is the most pressing issue for the new Prime Minister, as inflation could reach as far up as 14% next year, driven in large part by the soaring food and energy prices. Liz Truss promised this weekend she would start addressing the rising energy bills this week as Ofgem already announced that energy bills could reach over £4,000 next year.
Russia is halting gas supplies to Europe until western sanctions are lifted, Dmitry Peskov announced. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman blamed the EU, UK and Canada for the failure to deliver gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as sanctions affect agents and companies throughout the process. Gazprom had already announced it would stop supplying gas Friday due to a technical fault, the third one already this year after reducing supply capacity to only 20% in August.
The euro fell below 99 cents for the first time in nearly two decades, while the pound plunged, as Russia's shutdown of gas supplies through its main pipeline to Europe sparked worries about energy prices and growth.
In China, the offshore yuan also fell to a two-year low of 6.9543 to the dollar as concerns persist over lockdown measures to combat COVID-19 in the country. The technology centre in Shenzhen, southern China, said it would adopt virus restriction measures from Monday, while Chengdu announced an extension of lockdown measures, as the country grapples with new epidemics.
Cable saw the pound continue its free fall last week. GBPUSD opened at 1.1749 and closed at 1.1507, marking a -2.04% loss.
GBPEUR followed a similar trend. The pair opened at 1.1768 and closed at 1.1559 on Friday, a -1.94% loss.
EURUSD saw the dollar strengthen again with even more expectations of a 75 basis points interest rate rise from the Fed after Friday’s labour market figures. The pair opened at 0.9984 and closed at 0.9951 last week.
