The British Pound traded 0.3% weaker against the Greenback by 11:15 GMT on the London Stock Exchange on Friday, despite strong fundamentals posted a couple of days ago. According to the data released on Thursday, Britain's retail sales grew 1.3% month-over-month in April, posting the first increase since January. Meanwhile, the recent poll posted a huge increase in the number
Canada's CPI for the past month is expected to show an increase from 1.3% to 1.7% on an annualized basis in April, whereas the core CPI is predicted to slow down to 2%. The faster inflation rate will provide support to the Canadian Dollar, which touched its six-week low against its US counterpart on Thursday. Official inflation figures will be released by Statistics
Europe's major stocks posted significant gains by 8:00 GMT, helped by steel makers, oil companies and miners. Thus, Germany's DAX 30 Index grew 1.09%, trading at 9,902.18, whereas Britain's FTSE 100 Index jumped 1.51% to 6,145.32 points. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 Index increased 1.52% to 4,347.77, and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 Index rose 1.32% to 2,961.55 points.
Figures on the Italian current account showed an expanding surplus on Friday, reaching 2.245 billion Euros in March. The surplus makes the third largest economy in the Eurozone a lender, while a deficit would initiate a Euro sell-off, putting downward pressure onto the currency. A data release earlier this week showed Italian exports to be 5.365 billion larger than imports,
Euro area improved its current account in March, as its surplus increased to 27.3 billion euro. Previously, after revision, in February it was 19.2 billion euro and in that month it had decreased from 27.5 billion in January. In general, Euro zone's current account balance has had its ups and downs for the past years, but it has never slipped
The New Zealand consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in 7 months, as prospects for short-term and long-term economic outlook dropped 3 and 5 points, respectively, leading the Consumer Confidence Index to dip by 4 points to 116.2 points. An indicator higher than 100 points shows optimism, however, a drop under 100 points suggests a pessimistic sentiment.
Japan is hosting the G7 meeting this weekend. At the meeting main points on the agenda are global economy, fiscal and monetary policy and uncertainties. Monetary policy and currencies are expected to be one of the top priorities. Japan faces a challenge because it has to come up with a common way to boost global economic growth.
Australian Dollar moved above a 61.8% Fibonacci level, as further depreciation is expected if it moves below this level. John Edwards of the Reserve Bank of Australia gave positive comments on Australian inflation in Wall Street Journal and it boosted the Aussie. Moreover, a jump in crude prices increased interest in high-yield currencies.
Oil surged on Friday and both its benchmarks reached above $49 level, as traders awaited for new data on rig count in US. WTI futures with a delivery in July rose 1.1% to $49.21 per barrel and Brent hiked 0.9% to trade at $49.25 per barrel. Recently oil moved up with unexpected supply disruptions in Canada, Nigeria, Venezuela and Libya.
New Zealand Dollar is supported by its moving average of 100-day's at 0.6717, as it appreciated against the US Dollar on Friday. NZD/USD pair recovered from a two-month low, which it reached on Thursday. A slight surge in crude oil prices increased demand for riskier currencies as the Aussie and New Zealand Dollar.
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the United States grew to 0.6% last month, following no change posted in March and the 0.1% increase seen in February. Meanwhile, economists polled by Reuters expected the Index to jump to 0.4% in the fourth month of the year.
On Wednesday, Ipsos MORI released results of its latest opinion poll, which showed that the proportion of people who would vote to remain in the European Union increased 18% since February 2016 to 55%. In the meantime, the odds at Ladbrokes of Britain voting to stay in the EU grew to 82%, whereas the betting odds for a 'Leave' vote dropped to
Both gold and silver traded lower on Thursday during the North American trading session. Thus, the bullion dropped 2.09%, trading at $1,247.80 per troy ounce, whereas silver declined 4.27%, trading at $16.40 per ounce by 14:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
Crude oil futures traded lower during the first hour of the North American trading session, despite lower-than-expected initial jobless claims reported earlier on Thursday. Thus, West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.0%, trading at $47.22, whereas Brent declined 2.1%, trading at $47.90 by 14:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wall Street started Thursday's trading with falling stock prices, as latest Federal Reserve's minutes pressured investors with looming interest rate hike in June. Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.4% to 2,040.00 points and Dow Jones lost 0.3% at start of trading and traded at 17,471.50 points. In the meantime, NASDAQ decreased 0.5% to 4,716.70 points.
India's Gross Domestic Product is expected do grow at pace close to 2.5% in 2016 and in 2017, according to the latest forecast from Moody's rating agency. In the meantime, Moody's report highlighted that the country's GDP showed strong growth so far, but total private investment remained low.
The US Dollar traded at its fresh intra-day highs against the Euro, as initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the United States dropped to 278,000 from 294,000, the Department of Labour said on Thursday. The common currency declined 0.3%, trading at $1.1180 by 13:00 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
Stock exchanges in Europe fell, as latest Federal Reserve's minutes pressured investors with looming interest rate increase in June. German DAX 30 dropped 0.5% to 9,895.35 points, FTSE 100 index decreased 1% to 6,104.40 points and French CAC 40 lost 0.1% to 4,313.35. In the meantime, Euro Stoxx 50 decreased 0.3% to trade at 2,947.50 points.
The Pound traded higher upon the positive UK retail sales data announcement, also being affected by a lower Brexit probability. The cable recovered on Thursday's trading session after losing value on Wednesday, when the Greenback was pushed up by the release of the FOMC minutes which suggested a possible rate hike in June.
Labour market in US improved over past week after initial jobless claims peaked previous week and reached 294,000 claims. Newest data released on Thursday indicated 278,000 new claims this week, although it was still more than expected by analysts, as they forecasted 275,000 claims. It is a big relief, since this unemployment indicator rose for past three weeks.
Wall-Mart Stores reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday. Analysts estimated profit of $0.88 per share, but Wall-Mart chain announced $0.98 of net income per share. $115.9 billion quarterly revenue was posted instead of expected $113.22 billion. Shares of the shopping chain surged more than 8% pre-market by 11:30 GMT.
US futures for equity decreased on Thursday, as investors worldwide continued the sell-off after latest the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes, which hinted at a rate increase in June. If the US economic data continues to show consistent growth towards the targeted 2%, probability of a rate hike by the Fed will increase further. In the meantime, reacting to the news
The USD/JPY pair traded higher on Thursday after markets perceived the FOMC minutes as an indicator of a potential rate hike in June. The pair hovered under the 110 yen mark over the London session, with volatility expected later during the US session when data on US jobless claims is announced.
Retail sales rose by 1.3% for April in the UK on a monthly basis, topping analyst expectations of a 0.7% surge. The advance mostly originated from the low price levels, and the only downward pressure came from a dip in clothing and shoe sales cause by the cold weather. Retail sales are anticipated to remain steady during the rest of