The US dollar strengthened against a basket of major currencies amid the publication of optimistic statistics on the real estate market. Thus, new home sales in the US increased by 4.5% to 692K in March, while experts expected a decline by 3.0% to 647K. The dollar index (#DX) closed in the positive zone (+0.38%). Financial market participants returned to trading after the Easter holidays. Investors expect preliminary data on US GDP for the first quarter, which will be published on Friday.
During the Asian trading session, weak economic data have been published in Australia. Thus, the consumer price index in Q1 remained unchanged, while investors forecasted growth by 0.2% (q/q). Inflation slowed down from 1.8% to 1.3% (year-on-year). Earlier, the Reserve Bank of Australia reported that it was ready to raise the issue of lowering interest rates if future economic releases would be pessimistic. Today, the Bank of Canada will announce its decision on a key interest rate. As experts expect, the interest rate will remain unchanged at 1.75%. We recommend paying attention to the comments by representatives of the regulator.
On Wednesday, British Treasury Secretary, Philip Hammond, said that he started the search for next Bank of England Governor. Mark Carney took office on July 1, 2013, and will leave office on January 31, 2020.
The “black gold” prices have been declining. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are testing the mark of $65.80 per barrel. At 17:30 (GMT+3:00) data on crude oil inventories will be published in the United States.
Market Indicators
- Yesterday, the bullish sentiment was observed in the US stock market: #SPY (+0.90%), #DIA (+0.53%), #QQQ (+1.27%).
- The 10-year US government bonds yield fell again. Currently, the indicator is at the level of 2.55-2.56%.
The news feed for 2019.04.24:
- German IFO business climate index at 11:00 (GMT+3:00);
- Bank of Canada interest rate decision at 17:00 (GMT+3:00).
