Today is a bank holiday in the UK which means volumes are expected to be very light. The London session is light on economic data too. Start your week with the currency update below.
Currency update
USD: The Fed’s April 27 statement failed to provide any further clarity on when the Bank may raise rates. There was no indication in the statement that a rate hike is likely in June, with Fed fund futures pricing a less than 20% chance of a hike at that meeting. CPI for March slightly missed estimates with Core dropping to 2.2% y/y from a prior of 2.3% and for the month, missing estimates at 0.1% versus 0.2% expected. Headline inflation also dropped from prior and missed estimates at 0.9% y/y. Employment figures for March were solid with 215,000 jobs added, a rise of 0.3% in Average Hourly Earnings, and an increase in Participation Rate to 63.0%.
EUR: GDP for Q1 beat expectations at 0.6% q/q versus expectations of 0.4%, and at 1.6% y/y versus expectations of 1.4%. The impressive beat is largely due to the pick-up in France’s economy at the start of the year, with GDP printing at 0.5%, and the impressive recovery in Spain’s economy, which expanded by 0.8%. Inflation data for April has pushed the Eurozone back into deflation. CPI y/y printed at -0.2% versus expectations of -0.1%, and Core CPI printed at 0.8%, below expectations of 0.9%.
GBP: Fundamentally a slightly bullish currency, however market expectations regarding the UK’s EU referendum will remain the primary driver of price action. Preliminary GDP for Q1 printed at 0.4% q/q as expected, however GDP y/y slightly beat expectations at 2.1% vs 2.0% expected. Average Weekly Earnings for February increased by 1.8%, below expectations of 2.3%, Claimant Count Change also missed expectations, increasing by 6,700 vs an expected decrease of 11,300. For the month of March, Core CPI m/m printed at 0.6%, double the expected 0.3%, and core y/y printed at 1.5% above expectations of 1.3%. Headline CPI also beat market expectations at 0.4% m/m and 0.5% y/y.
AUD: CPI for Q1 missed by a wide margin with Trimmed Mean CPI printing at 1.7% y/y, below expectation of 2.0%. This is well below the RBA’s 2% target for inflation and hence greatly increases the chances of a cut at the May 3 meeting. This makes the AUD a bearish currency for now. Employment data for March beat estimates at 26.1K vs expected 18.0K for the Employment Change, whilst the Unemployment rate fell to 5.7% vs expectations of 5.9%.
NZD: The RBNZ kept rates on hold at the April 28 meeting, but maintain a strong easing bias which suggests another cut at the June meeting. Fundamentally a weak currency given the RBNZ’s easing bias, however currently seeing upside for the same reasons as the AUD. CPI for Q1 slightly beat estimates at 0.2% q/q versus expectations of 0.1%. Year-over-year CPI matched estimates at 0.4%, well below the RBNZ’s target mid-point of 2%. Excluding petrol prices, CPI rose 0.7% y/y.
CAD: A neutral to weakly-bullish currency, with sentiment in lock-step with WTI. Core CPI for the month of March rose 0.7% versus an expectation of 0.3%. This puts year-over-year core inflation at 2.1%. Retail Sales Excluding Automobiles rose 0.2% for February, well above the expected half-percent decline. Solid data from Canada during April has erased any expectation of easing this year, for now.
JPY: The BoJ kept policy unchanged at the April 28 meeting, which saw massive strength in yen across the board, given the market pricing for a potential announcement of further easing. The BoJ may ease further at the next meeting on June 16. Tokyo CPI Ex-Food & Energy for April was at 0.6% y/y. The BoJ measure of National Core CPI remained steady in at 1.1% y/y for March.
CHF: Fundamentally a weak currency, highly correlated with moves in EUR. The franc is fundamentally a weak currency given the SNB’s negative interest rates, however it can suddenly rally on safe-haven flows. The SNB regularly recite that the franc is overvalued and they are prepared to intervene to weaken the currency. The franc’s direction is difficult to predict due to regular intervention by the SNB.
At no time should anyone view the information presented anywhere on this website as advice, recommendation or proven. Everything reflected is merely opinion and may not be accurate. The purpose of the site is to express the opinions and views of Jarratt Davis. There is no intention to offer specific help, advice or suggestions to anyone reading any of the content posted here.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
AUD/USD holds above 0.6500 in thin trading
The Australian Dollar managed to recover ground against its American rival after AUD/USD fell to 0.6484. The upbeat tone of Wall Street underpinned the Aussie despite broad US Dollar strength and tepid Australian data.
EUR/USD comfortable below 1.0800 lower lows at sight
The EUR/USD pair lost ground on Thursday and settled near a fresh March low of 1.0774. Strong US data and hawkish Fed speakers comments lead the way ahead of the release of the US PCE Price Index on Friday.
Gold pulls away from daily highs, holds above $2,200
Gold retreats from daily highs but holds comfortably above $2,200 in the American session on Thursday. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stays near 4.2% after upbeat US data and makes it difficult for XAU/USD to gather further bullish momentum.
Google starts indexing Bitcoin addresses
Bitcoin address data is live on Google search results after users realized on Thursday that the tech giant started indexing Bitcoin blockchain data. However, mixed reactions have followed the tech giant's reversed stance on the cryptocurrency.
A Hollywood ending for fourth quarter GDP
The latest revisions put Q4 GDP at 3.4%, the second fastest quarterly growth rate in two years. Much of the upside was attributable to stronger consumer spending, yet fresh profits data affirmed it was a good quarter for the bottom line as well with profits up by the most since the Q2-2022.