| Welcome to your morning markets update, delivered every weekday before the European open. Good morning. U.K. leadership favorite Boris Johnson chose to talk about Brexit instead of his love life, under-fire U.S. rate-setter Jerome Powell is due at an event in New York, Iran appeared to close the door on talks with Washington, and Bitcoin's rally is outshining even that of gold. Here's what's moving markets. Boris Talks Tough Boris Johnson, still dodging questions on his personal life, told the BBC he believed the British Parliament would now support a no-deal Brexit, even as senior figures in his Conservative Party warned they had the numbers to stop one. The prime ministerial favorite said his Brexit strategy is to use the threat of no deal to persuade the European Union to remove the controversial Irish border backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement. But the pound didn't really flinch. Three years since the vote, here's what to expect in Season 4 of Brexit. Closed Forever Iran appeared to publicly sever ties with the U.S., saying new sanctions against its supreme leader and foreign minister mean the diplomatic path with Washington is closed "forever," according to reports from the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. Trump's government is destroying international mechanisms for maintaining global peace, the foreign ministry was also quoted as saying. Despite the added tensions, oil slipped overnight after rallying almost 8% in three days. Powell In Spotlight Embattled Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks in New York after European markets close on the challenges facing the U.S. economy, just a day after President Donald Trump accused his central bank of behaving like a "stubborn child" in refusing to lower interest rates. "Blew it!," Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday, although one of Powell's colleagues later sounded a note of caution about rate cuts. And while the president thinks the Fed is overly hawkish, FX traders might not agree, with the dollar index on course for its worst quarter in five. Stealing The Show Asian stocks were mostly lower overnight as investors weighed up current geopolitical risks that have sent gold to a near six-year high. But while the yellow metal's move has been impressive, it's Bitcoin that's stealing the show, surging in recent sessions and dragging some exposed stocks higher as analysts point to renewed mainstream interest in cryptocurrencies, demonstrated most prominently by Facebook Inc.'s Libra, coupled with fewer concerns about fraud. That said, a comparison between Bitcoin and gold itself might be a stretch. Coming Up... British transport firm FirstGroup Plc will attempt to avoid a boardroom coup when it holds a shareholder meeting to vote on a proposal from activist investor Coast Capital to oust a number of directors, including its chairman and CEO. Elsewhere, it's another light earnings slate, although battered U.K. retailer Carpetright Plc is due to publish results. Scheduled data includes U.S. home sales and consumer confidence, and there's also a rate decision from Hungary. What We've Been Reading This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning Despite pressure from a rise in the amount of negative-yielding debt in the region, anemic economic growth and ongoing political uncertainty, the euro is making a stand, at least from a technical viewpoint. Helped by broad dollar weakness, the common currency has broken above both its 200-day and 200-week moving averages and looks to be forming somewhat of a base. Although hedge funds have covered more than half of their peak net-short euro positions this year -- one of 2019's more popular currency trades -- there is room for the squeeze to continue. Dollar bears sense blood in the water as it breaks its own key technical levels and sentiment is turning against the greenback. It could be the euro's turn for a reversal in fortunes as it makes a case for being one of the cleaner dirty shirts in the currency washbasket.  Cormac Mullen is a Cross-Asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more. | 
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