The Canadian dollar stood a head taller than its peers

Good Morning,

- Dollar trade on defensive mode and Aussie hit at 3-week after stronger-than-expected jobs data…

- The dollar was slightly up against the euro and yen after dropping the previous day on weak U.S. industrial output and New York State manufacturing activity data. The soft indicators fed uncertainty over the timing of the Federal Reserve's next interest rate hike.

- Wall Street’s banks are telling clients that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise rates when its board meets in June. We've spoken to a half dozen industry sources and all said they don't believe the Fed will raise rates until September at the soonest. This is certain to have wide-ranging impacts: the Fed keeping rates at 0% will support M&A, and could breathe life back into an otherwise limp IPO pipeline. If the Fed decides to not increase rates in June, the market will have until September before the next prospective rate hike. “It’s priced into the market, but not yet for M&A arbitrage funds,” said one hedge fund professional at a multi-billion dollar fund.

- Fed's Lacker: Widely expected Fed to raise rates this year, indicators point to need to raise rates this year.

- Barclays on Euro & British pound. EUR/USD: We prefer to fade upticks towards the 1.0800 area and look for a move below 1.0520 to confirm downside toward initial targets near 1.0460 and then the 1.0390 area. Nearby resistance is in the 1.0710 area. GBP/USD: Upticks provide better levels to sell within context of the greater bearish trend. We prefer to fade gains and look for a move lower towards 1.4500.

- British house prices grew at their fastest pace in five months in March, fuelled by a shortage of properties, a survey showed on Thursday, adding to other signs that a cooling of the market may be ending. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) monthly house price balance rose to +21 in March, above all forecasts in a Reuters poll, from +15 in February. There were signs that uncertainty about the May 7 election was causing sellers to hold off from putting properties on the market, RICS said.

- Australian unemployment unexpectedly fell in March, indicating the central bank’s effort to shore up confidence with record-low interest rates is showing signs of paying off. The local currency surged. The jobless rate dropped to 6.1 percent from a revised 6.2 percent, the statistics bureau said in Sydney on Thursday, following annual seasonal reanalysis of data. That compares with a median estimate of 6.3 percent in a Bloomberg survey.

- The Canadian dollar stood a head taller than its peers, jumping to a three-month high of C$1.2251 per USD after the Bank of Canada surprised the markets by indicating no further easing were imminent.

- Stock market fever is sweeping China. Chinese equities are officially on fire. The Shanghai Composite has skyrocketed 78% since just before Halloween. It recently crested the 4,000 level for the first time since the financial crisis. Yet stocks in China have achieved red-hot status just as the country's economy is going through a cooling off period. Growth slowed to the weakest pace since 2009. In other words, exuberance for Chinese stocks isn't being backed up by fundamentals.

- Brent crude rose as high as $63.43 a barrel, highest since December 2014. U.S. crude was up at $56 level a barrel after jumping nearly 6 percent on Wednesday at $56.66 .

- Watch today: US housing, US jobless claims, Philly Fed.

Have a nice Day!