Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei down 0.35 %, Shanghai Composite fell 0.60 %, Hang Seng lost 0.95 %, ASX 200 declined 0.45 %
- Commodities: Gold at $1251 (+0.10 %), Silver at $17.15 (+0.30 %), WTI Oil at $43.70 (+1.20 %), Brent Oil at $45.00 (+1.05 %)
- Rates: US 10 year yield at 1.85, UK 10 year yield at 1.59, German 10 year yield at 0.23
News & Data:
- Japan Manufacturing PMI (Apr, P): 48.0 (exp 49.5 prev 49.1)
- PBoC Fixes Yuan At 6.4898 (prev 6.4803
- Dalian Iron Ore Futures Hits Highest Level Since Sep 2014
- PIMCO: The Outlook For Oil Is Bearish, Whatever OPEC Does – BI
- Asian shares sag after cloudy U.S. earnings outlook – RTRS
- Oil prices set for one of the biggest weekly rises in 2016 – RTRS
- Wall Street cedes ground after mixed bag of earnings – RTRS
- Euro steadies after sinking on ECB's Draghi comments – RTRS
Markets Update:
EUR/USD settled around 1.13 after volatile price action post-ECB and traded in a 1.1280-1.1310 range overnight. The ECB left rates and the size of the QE programme unchanged, as expected, and there were no surprises during the Draghi press conference either. Further consolidation seems likely in the near term with strong support at 1.1230 and resistance at 1.1460.
USD/JPY retraced as Asian stock markets opened lower and fell from 109.50 to 109.25. AUD/USD found support at 0.7733 and bounced from there to a high of 0.7775. NZD/USD broke below the 0.6965 support level and extended losses to 0.69. A break below 0.6840 would confirm the short-term top at 0.7055 and suggest further losses are ahead.
Upcoming Events:
- 08:00 BST – French Manufacturing PMI
- 08:00 BST – French Services PMI
- 08:30 BST – German Manufacturing PMI
- 08:30 BST – German Services PMI
- 09:00 BST – Euro Zone Manufacturing PMI
- 09:00 BST – Euro Zone Services PMI
- 10:00 BST – Italian Retail Sales
- 13:30 BST – Canadian CPI
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Retail Sales
- 14:45 BST – US Manufacturing PMI
