- Irish April services PMI falls to 32.2 from 35.7 in March
- Spanish March industrial output -24.7% y/y vs -22.5% in March. Worse than median forecast of -19.8%
- SNB’s Jordan: Monitoring fx closely, to use all means to act against rise of chf vs eur
- EU business lobby BusinessEurope: ECB should cut rates 25bps to 1%, commit to keep low for long-time. ECB should also buy commercial paper, asset backed securities
- Euro zone April final services PMI revised up, to 43.8 from flash 43.1. Better than median forecast of 43.1
- UK April Halifax house price index -1.7% m/m, -17.7% y/y. Weaker than median forecasts of -1.0%, -17.5% respectively
- China’s central bank says it will ensure ample credit to support economy. Economy will see stable and fast growth
- China’s central bank sees fx depreciation risk for key currencies, including dollar, stemming from quantitative easing policies
- UK April services PMI 48.7 vs 45.5 in March. Better than median forecast of 46.3, and highest since August 2008
- Euro zone March retail sales -0.6% m/m, -4.2% y/y, weaker than median forecasts of +0.1%, -2.6% respectively
- UK Parliamentary Committee: Government growth forecast an optimistic assumption. Strong possibility unemployment will exceed 3 mln
Euro and sterling have managed to recover somewhat this morning, after revelations BofA apparently needs to raise some $34-35 bln in new capital knocked both lower in Asia.
The data out today in Europe has been something of a mixed bag, some good some bad (see above) EUR/USD has rallied about 40-45 points, but it’s been tough going.
Cable managed to ignore disappointing UK housing data and saw a decent rally off the release of better than expected services PMI data, which saw a session high 1.5121 posted. The pairing has settled back, presently at 1.5080, still up about half a cent on the day.
Meanwhile China’s central bank has promised ample liquidity to help spur growth in the economy, which is doing better than expected.