Greek officials positive about meeting debt payments till June

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EUR Manufacturing PMI
UK Retail Sales
US Manufacturing PMI

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Overnight

CHINA:
HSBC manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.2 in April, down from 49.6 indicating that the slowdown in the Chinese economy has continued, with only a figure reading above 50, which indicated expansion, occurring once so far this year. However, Julian Evans-Pritchard of capital economics believes much of the weakness in the April and March survey is due to season distortions and shouldn’t necessarily point to a sharp slowdown in the coming months. Aussie sold off on the news but has since recovered.

News Roundup

MEDIUM: UK
Bank of England minutes. Cable brushed aside warnings about uncertainty over the UK elections in yesterday’s session, after hawkish commentary came out from the UK central bank. The MPC voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged however two members were ‘finely balanced’ with a view to increase rates in the short to medium term. This resulted in sterling climbing to a 5 week high against the USD. The markets do seem to be taking the risks from the impending election very much in their stride – for the time being.

HIGH: GREECE
So after hearing all this week about scare stories about the Government having to raid the coffers of various public bodies, yesterday Greek officials squashed fears of an imminent default claiming the Greece government has enough cash to meet its debt payments into June. However, the situation is still unresolved as we head into tomorrow’s showdown between finance ministers, with the Syriza-led government apparently still not budging on certain austerity measures including VAT hikes on its Islands and pension cuts.

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