Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday that there are still real gaps between the UK and European Union in their disagreement over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), according to Reuters. 

Coveney added that there hasn't yet been a breakthrough moment and that protocol issues are unlikely to be resolved by the year's end. 

Market Reaction

GBP hasn't seen any reaction to the comment, with GBPUSD continuing to meander to the north of the 1.3300. GBP is actually the top performing G10 currency on the day so far, up 0.3% versus the buck, despite recent news that the US is to delay a deal to remove Trump-era steel tariffs on the UK due to UK threats to trigger Article 16 of the NIP.