The JPY and USD have firmed in overnight trade, EUR/USD down at 1.3185 from a North American close Wednesday around 1.3220, while EUR/JPY is down at 130.40 from around 131.40.
The moves come in the wake of worse than expected Chinese GDP. China’s GDP grew 6.1% in the Q-1 2009 compared to 6.8% in the previous three months and below the median forecast of 6.3%. It is the slowest pace of growth for nearly 10 years.
Maybe a little surprisingly, Asian stocks managed generally to eek out some marginal gains.
For today, following data due for release in Europe:
07:15 GMT: Swiss producer and import prices March expected -0.2% m/m, -2.4% y/y
08:00 GMT: Italian CPI March final expected +0.1% m/m, +1.2% y/y
09:00 GMT: Euro zone CPI March final expected +0.4% m/m, +0.6% y/y
09:00 GMT: Euro zone industrial production February expected -2.5% m/m, -18.0 y/y