Brexit Fallout: Sterling stumbles through a bad week

The currency’s ‘flash crash’ followed Theresa May’s focus on a hard Brexit and its possible impact on the City of London

From peak to trough, sterling lost nearly 8.5 per cent against the dollar this week. To put it into context, the move in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote was around 11 per cent. It’s been a week to forget for the pound.

The initial cause of the sell-off was the tilt towards a so-called ‘hard’ Brexit by the British government, announced at the Conservative party conference last week. This entails strict ...