Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy laid down an ultimatum to Catalan President Carles Puigdemont: clarify if you declared independence. If so, Madrid was ready to suspend the autonomy and impose direct rule.

The answer came just before the 8:00 GMT deadline but it isn’t a clear binary response. The letter states that the Catalan government is ready for a dialog that could last two months and also calls for a meeting. Was declaration declared? The letter does not include that.

EUR/USD responded negatively and hit support at 1.1780. The pair had already opened on lower ground and the news sent it to support.