Yesterday the investors were closely monitoring the moves of the ECB, which has left the interest rates on hold, as it was expected, and made no changes to its monetary policy. Mario Draghi and the ECB officials gave an indication that the Central Bank would take cautious moves towards winding up the asset purchase program, currently scheduled to end in September this year. According to Reuters, the policy makers are debating when and how to restrain further the stimulus with hopes that a rapid, jobs-rich expansion may bring the inflation near to the 2% target.
At the press conference, caution was showed regarding the recent moderation in EU activity, despite the ongoing confidence in achieving the set targets. President Draghi has stated that during the meeting, the Governing Council has not discussed the levels of FX or their upcoming June meeting, and added that the monetary policy per se was not discussed. Prudent and persistent policy stance has been kept once again. According to Bloomberg, Draghi refused the proposed discussion on what is to be done after the September 2018 provisional date for the end of asset purchases.
From the US, better than expected results came for the durable goods orders and unemployment, where the durable goods orders rose more than expected in March and the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits have decreased by 24,000 to 209,000 as per the US Labor Department. Better than expected data release supports the assumptions that the US economy is strong enough to support multiple rate hikes in the coming months.
Today we have a bunch of macroeconomic news across the board, with the news from Japan with the monetary policy statement and BoJ outlook report, followed by news from the Eurozone with ESI economic confidence that is seen falling to 112.2 from 112.6 in March with manufacturing and services confidence is also expected to decline. As for the UK, GDP growth rates are expected at 0.3% and 1.4%, followed by BoE Governor Carney speech.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR EVENTS FOR APRIL 27th
JPY Monetary Policy Statement
JPY BOJ Policy Rate
JPY BOJ Outlook Report
EUR French Flash GDP q/q
EUR French Prelim CPI m/m
EUR Spanish Flash CPI y/y
EUR Spanish Flash GDP q/q
CHF SNB Chairman Jordan Speaks
GBP Prelim GDP q/q
GBP BOE Gov Carney Speaks
USD Advance GDP q/q
USD Advance GDP Price Index q/q
USD Employment Cost Index q/q
USD Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment
