Stocks rallied and US dollar drop

Good Morning,

- Stocks rallied and US dollar drop, as FED’s minutes played down rates rise forecast.

- U.S. stocks rallied the most in a month. Japan's Nikkei 0.00%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.06% (07:09 GMT), Korea's Kospi 0.48%, Australia's ASX 200 0.32% and China's Shanghai 1.38%.

- Mario Draghi will probably take action within two months against the threat of deflation, economists said. Almost two-thirds of respondents in the Bloomberg Monthly Survey predicted the ECB president will ease policy by June. Of those economists, just under half said he might implement multiple measures ranging from interest-rate cuts to asset purchases and long-term loans. With euro-area inflation at the weakest in more than four years, Draghi says he has “unanimous” backing from policy makers for unconventional measures if needed.

- Five of the 40 economists surveyed, said the ECB will act on May 8 in Brussels, and 20 said measures will be announced the following month. Six economists said the decision-making Governing Council won’t ease policy further.

- Sixty percent of economists in the Bloomberg survey said the ECB may take steps to weaken the euro. While the exchange rate isn’t a policy target, Draghi has said he’s watching it “with attention.” The currency has gained almost 6 percent against the dollar in the past 12 months, depressing the price of imported goods and curbing the competitiveness of the currency bloc’s exporters.

- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy joined his French counterpart Manuel Valls yesterday in criticizing the ECB for not acting against the strong euro, which they say is hampering the euro-area economic recovery.

- The Federal Reserve played down forecasts by some of its own policy makers that interest rates might rise faster than they previously predicted.“Several participants noted that the increase in the median projection overstated the shift in the projections,” according to minutes of the March 18-19 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee released last night. Some expressed concern the rate forecasts “could be misconstrued as indicating a move by the committee to a less accommodative reaction function.”

- Bomb explodes outside Central Bank of Greece.

- Cyprus expects to return to international markets late next year but cannot rule out testing the waters earlier to gauge the appetite for Cypriot debt, the president of the bailed-out Mediterranean nation said on Wednesday.

- BOJ’s Miyao says Japan’s economic recovery is becoming more broad-based. Gradual recovery continues overall, employment and wages are continuing to improve. Domestic and overseas risks are balanced. Strong labour demand could help increase pace of economic recovery.

- China’s exports and imports unexpectedly fell in March as Premier Li Keqiang tries to stabilize an economy headed for its slowest growth since the global financial crisis. Shipments declined 6.6 percent from a year earlier. Imports fell 11.3 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $7.71 billion.

- China has come a long way in a short period in relation to liberalizing its currency and opening up its economy, said Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey, responding to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew's call for Beijing to get back on the path of demonstrating that they're committed to pursuing a market-determined exchange rate.

- Australia unemployment surprise falls to 5.8%. Good news for Aussie as now trade above $0.94 level and looking to test the 6-month high.

- Watch today: ECB Report, US jobless claims and consumer comfort.

Have a nice Day !