Daily Insight

Initially, Sterling rallied yesterday on the release of UK Retail Sales data, which came out largely in line with expectations, showing a rise of 0.4% in March and British Mortgage lending increased by its largest amount in nearly two years last month, suggesting that the housing market continues to look buoyant, rising to £5.4 Billion from £4.7 Billion in February.

The Dollar came under further pressure yesterday as comments from Qatar and Russia increased speculation that central banks are shifting their reserves away from the Dollar and we can expect to see some movement this afternoon with U.S Consumer Confidence expected to decline in April to 106.0 from 107.2 the previous month. Coupled with that, Existing Home Sales in the States is predicted to drop to $6.7 million in March, following a slight improvement in February and provides yet more evidence that the U.S housing market is in decline.

With regards the Euro, French Business Confidence rose to a five-year high yesterday and German Industrial Production gained for a third month running, providing yet more evidence that economic growth is beginning to accelerate in the euro-zone into the second quarter. As a result, the Euro traded down towards the 1.4400 level and we can expect to see further market reaction today with the German Ifo business climate survey expected to remain relatively robust in April but is expected to show a partial decline from March, primarily due to a sharp rise in oil prices.

Data Released 25th April

UK 11:00 CBI Monthly Trends (April)

EUR 09:00 Current Account (Feb)

GER 10:00 Ifo Business Climate Survey (April)

U.S. 15:00 Consumer Confidence (April)

U.S. 15:00 Existing Home Sales (Mar)

written by Adam Solomon