Good morning
We’ve done it! My U15s won yesterday evening to secure the league title. Still have one match to play, this Friday evening, so far we are unbeaten in the league with 14 wins and 5 draws, it would be nice to finish the season unbeaten but with a cup and a league title I’m not going to complain regardless of the result. A real achievement for the team who, until this season, had never won anything.
US stocks ended higher after FOMC minutes didn’t point towards any more aggressive tightening although a couple of 50bps rises is still highly likely. Asian markets were more subdued but there is certainly a feeling of calm after the recent panic in the currency markets.
GBP is performing well with GBPUSD up at 1.2575 and EURGBP 0.8490 (GBPEUR 1.1780). GBP is also at the upper end of the range against AUD, currently 1.7750 although 1.7850 is still the key upside level to break if we are to see consistent gains. EURUSD meanwhile is off yesterdays lows which came in around 1.0640, now 1.0685. Several EU countries have a public holiday today.
UKs Chancellor Sunak could today announce plans to reduce domestic energy bills although as always the devil will be in the detail. For now though the plan seems to be a £400 discount that will not need to be repaid, to be funded by a windfall tax on energy firms.
The morning is quiet in the way of economic data but the afternoon brings some decent US numbers including the second estimate of Q1 GDP, not expected to be different from the first estimate so unlikely perhaps to impact the markets unless we see a surprise shift.
CAD retail sales are released at the same time, expected to show a decent increase compared to the previous reading. USDCAD currently 1.2815, having been in a 1.2780 1.2880 range for over a week, not sure the retail sales numbers will be the catalyst for a significant move.
Overall then I’m thinking we could be in for a quiet day although every time I write that I wonder whether it’s a sensible thing to offer. Now, where to get those trophies engraved………
- 13.30 US GDP, Core PCE, initial jobless claims
- 13.30 CAD retail sales
- 15.00 US pending home sales
- 00.30 Japan Tokyo CPI
- 02.30 AUS retail sales