Headlines:
- Eurozone March preliminary CPI +6.9% vs +7.1% y/y expected
- Bond yields dip after Eurozone inflation data
- And.. bond yields climb back higher after the dip
- France March preliminary CPI +5.6% vs +5.5% y/y expected
- Germany February retail sales -1.3% vs +0.5% m/m expected
- Germany March unemployment change 16k vs 0k expected
- Germany February import price index -2.4% vs -1.0% m/m expected
- UK Q4 final GDP +0.1% vs 0.0% q/q prelim
- UK March Nationwide house prices -0.8% vs -0.3% m/m expected
Markets:
- GBP leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.2%
- US 10-year yields down 1 bps to 3.541%
- Gold flat at $1,980.83
- WTI crude up 0.6% to $74.94
- Bitcoin down 0.6% to $27,974
Inflation data was a focus in Europe today as we saw the preliminary figures for March come in for the Eurozone. Headline annual inflation dipped by slightly more than estimated to just under 7%, reflecting its sharpest drop on record. However, core annual inflation ticked higher to a fresh record high in what is a contrasting report of sorts.
The bond market focused on the lower headline figure though, as bond yields dipped and pared its early advance. Short-end yields have come back up slightly but the long-end is basically sitting marginally lower on the day now.
That saw USD/JPY fall from a high of 135.50 to sit closer to 133.10 levels at the moment, still up by 0.4% though.
The dollar was steadier throughout, even as equities are seen just a touch higher - after having spent much of the session being little changed.
EUR/USD is down 0.2% to 1.0875 from around 1.0900 in Asia while GBP/USD is flattish around 1.2380 levels after coming close to test its December and January highs near 1.2446 earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD is seen bouncing off its 100-day moving average to be up 0.2% to 1.3545 while the antipodeans are slightly lower and still rather trapped in trading this week against the dollar mostly.
Month-end and quarter-end will be a focus point before we wrap things up this week, and don't forget that we also still have the US PCE price index to follow in the session ahead.
