Euro zone retail sales fall marginally in March

Good Morning,

- Payrolls in U.S. Rose 192,000 in March, Unemployment at 6.7%.

- The US March labor market report was definitively a good one for the US economy, with strong job creations over the month, upward revisions to past data and an increase in the labor force participation rate. In March, non-farm payrolls were up by 192k, after an already strong 197k in February (revised from a preliminary 175k) and 144k in January (revised from 129k). Yes it was slightly below the 200k expected by analysts however it is still a solid number, definitely improved from the previous 3 months and in line with FED’s requirement in order to keep the tapering going. On the negative side the unemployment rate remained at 6.7% despite the increase in payrolls however this was due to the increase in participation rate.

- ECB action 'couple of months' away: Ex-board member. European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi is preparing the way for monetary easing, a former member of the central bank told CNBC on Friday, despite some dismay after the ECB's failure to act this week.

- Canada March Ivey PMI Drops To 55.2, But Employment, Price Indices Up. Elaborating on, The Canadian Ivey Purchasing Managers Index decreased two points to 55.2 in March, indicating a slower pace of economic growth in the country, but growth nonetheless, the Richard Ivey School of Business reported Friday. Despite the decline of the PMI index to its lowest level since December last year, following a modest 0.4-point rebound in February, the employment index held up, with a 0.7-point increase to 49.7. Over the month of March, employment as measured by Statistics Canada Labor Force Survey rose by nearly 43,000, its largest gain since August 2013, surprising analysts on the upside, and bringing down the unemployment rate to 6.9% from 7.0% in February.

-Euro zone retail sales fall marginally in March. That said, the rate of decline was slower than in February and only marginal. Country level PMIs converged towards the 50.0 mark that separates expansion from contraction, with growth easing to a marginal pace in Germany and Italy recording its slowest decrease in sales for more than three years.

- Australian Dollar Outlook Hinges on Jobs Data, FOMC Minutes. Monetary policy expectations are in focus for the Australian Dollar. n the week ahead, this puts the spotlight on March’s Australian Employment report. Expectations point to a 2,500 increase in hiring, marking the smallest gain in three months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 6.1 percent, the highest since July 2003. This sets the bar relatively low for an upside surprise, an outcome with distinct possibility considering Australian news-flow has (according to outperformed consensus forecasts by the largest margin since May 2013 over recent weeks data from Citigroup). Such a scenario is likely to further amplify the Aussie’s perceived policy advantage, allowing the currency to build on its latest gains.

- ECB has modeled up to 1 trillion euros of QE – German press.

- Coeure says ECB wants to help recovery with “low, indeed lower, interest rates”.

- Germany’s Schaeuble says Greek troubles not EU’s fault

- Nigeria becomes Africa's biggest economy. Nigerian GDP now includes previously uncounted industries like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production. GDP for 2013 totalled 80.3 trillion naira (£307.6bn: $509.9bn), the Nigerian statistics office said. That compares with South Africa's GDP of $370.3bn at the end of 2013.

- Spanish Yields Below America’s as Rally Breaks New Ground. The next time Spain sells five-year debt, it may borrow the cash at a lower rate than the U.S. pays. Yields on the Spanish notes fell below those of their U.S. equivalents today for the first time since 2007, the latest milestone in this year’s rally among the bonds of Europe’s most indebted nations.

- Watch movers for today: EZ Sentix Investor Confidence, CHF CPI, German Industrial production,

Have a great week!