UK's Javid: Important to keep UK government spending under control

Britain's finance minister Sajid Javid crossed the wires in the last minutes, arguing that it's important to keep the government's spending under control. "The government will keep gilt issuance under control," Javid added. 

These comments seem to be providing a modest boost to the British pound. As of writing, the GBP/USD pair was up 0.75% on the day at 1.2865.

Regarding the state of the economy, "Fundamentals of the UK economy are strong," Javid noted. "Brexit-related uncertainty has held back the economy."