Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei down 0.40 %, ASX 200 gained 0.60 %, Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng closed for holiday
- Commodities: Gold at $1220 (-0.35 %), Silver at $15.05 (-0.05 %), WTI Oil at $36.35 (-1.15 %), Brent Oil at $38.30 (-0.90 %)
- Rates: US 10 year yield at 1.76, UK 10 year yield at 1.41, German 10 year yield at 0.13
News & Data:
- Australian Retail Sales (MoM) Feb: 0.0% (est 0.4%, prev 0.3%)
- Australian Building Approvals (MoM) Feb: 3.1% (est 2.5%, prev -7.5%, rev -6.6%)
- Australian Building Approvals (YoY) Feb: -9.0% (est -9.1%, prev -15.5%)
- Australian Melbourne Institute Inflation Gauge (MoM) Mar: 0.0% (Prev -0.2%) Australian Melbourne Institute Inflation Gauge (YoY) Mar: 1.7% (Prev 2.1%)
- Australian ANZ Job Advertisements (MoM) Mar 0.2% (prev -1.2%)
- New Zealand Westpac Employment Confidence 104.8 (Prev 101.5)
- Japanese Monetary Base (YoY) Mar: 28.5% (Prev 29.0%)
- Japanese Monetary Base End of Period (JPY) Mar: 375.7tln (Prev 358.8tln)
- BoJ Price Expectations Survey: Companies see 0.8 % CPI in 1 year (prev 1.0 %)
- Russian Oil Output Rises to Record as Freeze in Doubt – BBG
CFTC Positioning Data:
- EUR short 64K vs. 66k short prior week
- GBP short 40K vs. 38K short prior week
- JPY long 54K vs. 53K long prior week
- CAD short 6K vs. 15k short prior week
- CHF long 5K vs. 4K long prior week
- AUD long 23K vs. 18K long prior week
- NZD long 2K vs. 1K long prior week
Markets Update:
The US Dollar strengthened against the commodity currencies overnight, while it remained steady against the Euro and British Pound. AUD/USD fell from 0.7670 to 0.7630 after weaker than expected retail sales data. NZD/USD got dragged lower by this as well and declined from 0.69 to 0.6870. Meanwhile, the drop in oil prices at yesterday's open pushed the USD/CAD to a high of almost 1.3050, up roughly 30 pips on the day.
EUR/USD was quiet overnight and traded in a 1.1385-1.1410 range, while GBP/USD consolidated between 1.4215 and 1.4240. USD/JPY fell along with the Nikkei and reached a low of 111.35, down 40 pips from Sunday's open.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:30 BST – UK Construction PMI
- 10:00 BST – Euro Zone PPI
- 10:00 BST – Euro Zone Unemployment Rate
- 14:30 BST – FOMC Member Rosengren speaks
- 15:00 BST – US Factory Orders
- 15:00 BST – Bank of Canada Governor Poloz speaks
The Week Ahead:
Tuesday, April 5th
- 00:30 BST – Australian AIG Services Index
- 01:00 BST – FOMC Member Kaplan speaks
- 02:30 BST – Australian Trade Balance
- 05:30 BST – RBA Rate Decision
- 05:30 BST – RBA Statement
- 08:30 BST – German Central Bank President Weidmann speaks
- 08:45 BST – Italian Services PMI
- 08:50 BST – French Services PMI
- 08:55 BST – German Services PMI
- 09:00 BST – Euro Zone Services PMI
- 09:30 BST – UK Services PMI
- 10:00 BST – Euro Zone Retail Sales
- 13:30 BST – US Trade Balance
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Trade Balance
- 14:45 BST – US Services PMI
- 15:00 BST – US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
- 15:00 BST – US JOLTs Job Openings
- 21:35 BST – US API Weekly Crude Oil Stock
Wednesday, April 6th
- 02:45 BST – Chinese Caixin Services PMI
- 06:00 BST – Japanese Leading Index
- 07:00 BST – German Industrial Production
- 08:00 BST – RBA Assistant Governor Kent speaks
- 15:00 BST – Canadian Ivey PMI
- 15:30 BST – US EIA Crude Oil Inventories
- 17:20 BST – FOMC Member Mester speaks
- 19:00 BST – FOMC Meeting Minutes
Thursday, April 7th
- 00:30 BST – Australian Construction Index
- 01:00 BST – FOMC Member Kaplan speaks
- 01:30 BST – Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda speaks
- 07:45 BST – French Trade Balance
- 08:30 BST – UK Halifax House Price Index
- 12:30 BST – ECB Meeting Minutes
- 13:30 BST – US Initial Jobless Claims
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Building Permits
- 22:30 BST – Fed Chair Yellen speaks
Friday, April 8th
- 00:50 BST – Japanese Current Account
- 01:15 BST – FOMC Member George speaks
- 06:45 BST – Swiss Unemployment Rate
- 07:00 BST – German Trade Balance
- 08:15 BST – Swiss CPI
- 09:30 BST – UK Industrial Production
- 09:30 BST – UK Manufacturing Production
- 09:30 BST – UK Trade Balance
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Employment Change
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Unemployment Rate
- 15:00 BST – UK NIESR GDP Estimate
- 20:30 BST – CFTC Positioning Data
