Never straying from front page news for long, Brexit was back in focus this week. The International Monetary Fund stressed that the detrimental impact of Brexit had already surfaced, with Sterling’s sharp depreciation and subsequent inflationary impact on consumer prices having hindered growth in the first half of the year.

Events in Catalonia took centre stage this week after the Catalan Government chose to press ahead with an independence Referendum on Sunday, despite the Spanish constitutional court ruling that the vote would be illegal.

The General Election in Germany resulted in Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union / Christian Social Union Party winning the biggest share of the vote, as expected. However, her share of the vote fell by 8% to 33%. Her previous coalition partner in government, the Social Democratic Party, finished second.

Financial markets started the week in a calm fashion, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to “totally destroy” North Korea, with investor attention largely focused on the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.