Quote:
‘If, of all the words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, ‘It might have been,’
More sad are these we daily see:
‘It is, but hadn’t ought to be!’’ Bret Harte (1836-1902-)
The News:
US stress-tested banks have until June 8th to outline how they will raise capital and until November to actually get hold of the money. Geithner says none of them face insolvency.
The Numbers:
British Summer Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
00:50 JP April Monetary Base +8.2% Y/Y versus +6.9% March.
08:15 CH April CPI (+0.1% to +1.0% M/M, -1.1% to –0.3% Y/Y, versus –0.3% and –0.4% March).
11:00 DE March Factory Orders (-3.4% to +6.0% M/M, -38.5% to –31.6% Y/Y, versus –3.5% and –38.2% February).
12:00 GB Bank of England interest rate decision (unanimously expected unchanged at 0.50%).
12:45 EZ16 ECB interest rate decision (unanimously expected –25 basis points to 1.00%; 13:30 News Conference.
13:30 US Q1 Unit Labour Costs (-1.7% to +5.5%, Non-Farm Productivity –1.0% to +3.0%, versus +5.7%/–0.4% Q4).
13:30 US Weekly Jobless Claims (618K to 650K, Continuing Claims 6305K to 6455K, vs 631K and 6271K prior week).
14:30 US Fed’s Bernanke speaks on banking supervision, via satellite in Chicago.
18:10 US FDIC’s Bair speaks on bank structure and competition, Chicago.
20:00 US March Consumer Credit (-$7B to +$1.5B versus -$7.5B February). 00:50 JP Bank of Japan Minutes of 6/7th April meeting.
The Psychology:
Haiti turns away a ship-load of food aid sent from Mexico.
The Risk:
Treasury auctions in France, Spain and the US.
Today’s most interesting chart: Canadian dollar
Strongest since November, potentially setting up for a weekly close outside the massive ‘rectangle’.
