American FX Outlook: US labor market and Fed speakers headline

Mario Blascak, PhD Independent Analyst

What you need to know before markets open

Metals extended their stellar gains pushing the commodity index to new highs as investors continue to weigh the negative effect of the US sanctions on Russia.
The UK retail sales disappointed in March adding the third piece of worse than expected news into the UK macro puzzle this week.
The semi-annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank begins in Washington DC with top central bank officials and other economic celebrities scheduled to speak at the event.
On the hard data front, the US initial jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index headline, but both are rather the second tier indicators.

Thursday’s market moving events

The US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is scheduled to speak at the 2018 Global Finance Forum in Washington at 12:00 GMT.
The US initial jobless claims are expected to reach 230K in the week ending April 13.
Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey is expected to decelerate to 20.1 in April.
Canada’s ADP employment report is due.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Governor Randal Quarles to provide semi-annual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee at 13:30 GMT.
The Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe is scheduled to speak at the Global Finance Forum, in Washington at 16:30 GMT.

Major market movers

Sterling was trading lower after disappointing UK retail sales in March that were complemented with the UK Prime Minister May losing the vote in House of Lords.
The US Dollar is generally trading little change of Dollar index basis with no major news scheduled.

Earlier in Asia/Europe

Australian employment rose 4.9K only, missing the expectations of a 20.4K increase in March
The Eurozone current account recorded a surplus of €35.1 billion in February, down from €37.6 billion in January
The UK retail sales fell -1.2% over the month in March while core retail sales fell -0.5% m/m making the first quarter negative overall.

Author

Mario Blascak, PhD

Independent Analyst

Dr. Mário Bla&scaron;čák worked in professional finance and banking for 15 years before moving to journalism. While working for Austrian and German banks, he specialized in covering markets and macroeconomics.

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