British Pound Up as Government Loses Article 50 Case, Ruling Opens Door to More Unwelcome Uncertainty

Brexit is back on the agenda for Pound Sterling on Thursday November 3rd as the High Court rules in favour of those seeking to challenge the Government's ability to trigger Article 50 without the approval of Parliament.

The Pound rallied on news that the UK Government is unable to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without the approval of Parliament.

Sterling, already higher on stronger-than-forecast economic data, extended its gains across the board.

However, we note the spike didn't last long because there is one big implication of the ruling - more uncertainty.

What's more, the Government is expected to appeal the decision which means we will go through the whole process again.

The first senior Government response to the ruling comes from International Trade Secretary Liam Fox who tells Parliament the government is "disappointed" by the ruling and that the "country voted to leave" in a referendum sanctioned by Parliament.

He says the "government is determined to respect the result" and will "consider it [the judgement] carefully".

The Pound jumped but Stephanie Flanders at JPMorganAsset Management's Chief Market Strategist rightly points out that it would be wrong to assume Sterling continues rising from here:

Brexit court ruling means Parliamentary vote must be held before #Article50 is triggered https://t.co/40dsWkxlI1 pic.twitter.com/7JD8s697nb

— Bloomberg Brexit (@Brexit) November 3, 2016

The court case sees a group of pro-European Union activists seeking to challenge the Government's authority to trigger Article 50.

The activits believe only Parliament has the authority to trigger Article 50 and their hope is that a pro-Remain majority in Parliament could ultimately block a Brexit.

But with most Labour MPs presiding over constituencies where the majority voted to Leave it would not be hard for the ruling Conservatives to trigger Article 50.

A panel of three judges were tasked with ruling on the matter.

We said ahead of the release that if the activists win their case then there is a good chance the Pound would rally as markets tend to be aligned in a pro-EU manner.

However, we would expect such a rally to prove ultimately short-lived as the Government would surely challenge the outcome.