Market and product

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a push to avoid a tumultuous Brexit without a trade deal in three weeks’ time.

With growing fears of a chaotic no-deal finale to the five-year Brexit crisis when the United Kingdom finally leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, the meeting over dinner is being cast as a chance to unlock the stalled trade talks.

A British government source said a deal may not be possible, as did EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Ireland also signalled it was pessimistic about the prospects.

“The EU has to move,” Michael Gove, a senior minister in Johnson’s government dealing with Brexit issues, told Times Radio.

While Gove refused to give odds on a deal, he said that often a one-on-one meeting between leaders could result in a breakthrough. He said a compromise could be possible on fishing in British waters - one of the toughest issues so far.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, said there was still a chance of a deal but that the integrity of the EU’s market had to be preserved.

Failure to secure a deal would snarl borders, shock financial markets and sow chaos through supply chains across Europe and beyond as the world faces the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A measure of expected price swings in the pounds known as overnight implied volatility jumped 25% to the highest since late March.

- Reuters-