UK PM Johnson: Will keep no-deal Brexit preparations in a state of readiness

While responding to a question from a reporter about dropping no-deal Brexit preparations, "Many of those preparations will be extremely valuable as we come out of EU arrangements anyway," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, per Reuters. "So I think that they were the right thing to have done and to keep in a state of readiness."

Johnson further added that he was confident that they will have a free trade deal with the European Union by the end of 2020 to help the economy shake off the potential negative impact of Brexit.

The British pound's reaction was relatively muted to these remarks and the GBP/USD pair was last down 0.1% on the day at 1.2900.