- Spain April jobless rate falls -0.14%, by 6,632 to 4.74 mln total. First fall in unemployment for 8 months (hooray)
- Spain April services PMI 42.1, down from 46.3 in March and well below median forecast of 45.1. 10th consecutive month of contraction (boo)
- Italy April services PMI 42.3, down from 44.3 in March and well below median forecast of 44.0. 11th consecutive month of contraction. Lowest read since June 2009
- Eurozone April final services PMI 46.9, down from 49.2 in March and worse than flash estimate of 47.9
- Eurozone March retail sales +0.3% m/m, -0.2% y/y, stronger than median forecasts flat, -1.1% respectively
- UK Halifax house price index -2.4% m/m in April, demonstrably weaker than Reuter’s median forecast of -0.5%
- Should the French know better than to elect Francois Hollande - 21 French economists say they should
- Will France’s election hinder German leadership of the euro group? -Der Spiegel
Yesterday we sat around waiting for the ECB rate decision and Draghi press conference, today we’ve been sitting around waiting for the US non-farm payrolls data. Just toooo much waiting for my liking….
EUR/USD down marginally at 1.3130 from early 1.3145, having been as low as 1.3127. Talk of buy orders clustered 1.3120/25 (which includes 100 day SMA at 1.3121) Some sell stops seen through 1.3120.
USD/JPY effectively unchanged at 80.20. Buy orders clustered 80.00/10, sell stops through 79.90 before Kampo bids 79.50/60. Sell orders clustered up at 80.40/50.
Cable effectively unchanged at 1.6180. KInda sums it up. When you have no change in cable on a Friday you know its been quiet.