The euro closed out the worst quarter

Good Morning,

- The euro closed out the worst quarter in its 15-year history yesterday as the ECB’s monetary policy changes and worries about Greece was the two main reason for sell-off in common currency.

- S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered their ninth straight quarterly gains.

- The euro drops 11 percent against the dollar in the first quarter reflecting investors' expectations of divergent monetary policies. Investors are betting that the FED will raise interest rates near this summer, while the ECB's one-trillion-euro economic stimulus program is weakening the euro.

- The greenback marked its biggest quarterly rise against the world's top six currencies since 2008.

- The Spanish manufacturing sector maintained growth momentum at the end of the first quarter of the year as business conditions improved solidly during March. Further marked rises in output and new orders encouraged firms to take on extra staff at the strongest pace since June 2007. The recent weakness of the euro impacted on the sector, helping lead to a rise in exports.

- Morgan Stanley on EUR/USD: The outcome of Friday’s US labour market report becomes more important by the day. MS expects the US jobs report for March to show a gain of 195k (consensus at 250k) in non-farm payrolls with the unemployment rate at 5.6% (consensus 5.5%). Beyond this week's NFP, MS thinks that the combination of low bond yields and falling commodity prices will keep the USD on the top of its long positions list. "Relative to the low-yielding Asian and European currencies, the USD has established a ‘high’ yielding status, benefitting from debt-related, USD-supportive capital inflows," MS adds. Going into this week's NFP, MS maintains a tactical short EUR/USD position from around 1.09 targeting 1.05.

- BoJ Kuroda says BOJ won't continue to ease aimlessly. BOJ will continue easing until 2% inflation is stable, BOJ buying JGBs to reach 2% inflation targe, even if yields rise the BOJ does not book losses on its JGB holdings, BOJ gov spouting forth.

- LDP's Yamamoto says BOJ must ease again on April 30. Signs of slowdown in the economy and prices. "The economy is at a standstill and prices are seen falling ahead. To do nothing isn't an option for the BOJ". "Further monetary easing is absolutely essential to ensure that the Japanese don't slip back to a deflationary mindset".

- Japan manufacturing output growth slows to weakest since October 2014.

- A Chinese manufacturing gauge rebounded in March, suggesting stimulus efforts have started to bolster factories in the world’s second-largest economy. The government’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index was 50.1 last month, from 49.9 in February.

- ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley are out with notes suggesting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand may have intervened to sell NZD in March: more to come "They have no choice but to resort to intervention to weaken the exchange rate," Roy Teo, a strategist at ABN Amro in Singapore, said. "If they were to cut interest rates, then it runs the risk of a hotter domestic economy and housing market." "We suspect the RBNZ came in to weaken the currency when the kiwi was above 76 cents last week,"

- Russian ForMin Lavrov: Envoys reach agreement on main issues at Iranian talks.

- Oil took a slide on prospects that OPEC member Iran could reach a deal on its nuclear program that could allow Tehran to sell more of its oil onto an already saturated market.

- Watch today: Spanish manufacturing PMI, US ADP jobs, US industry.

Have a nice Day !