Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
February 29, 2024

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  • The US economy expanded at a lower pace than expected at the end of last year. GDP grew 3.2% in the fourth quarter, vs. estimate of 3.3%. Consumer spending, however, ticked higher at a 3% rate and greater than previously estimated.
  • The US economy keeps surprising many economists that thought last year the regions would slip into a recession following one of the most aggressive tightening cycles of the Federal Reserve. Instead, a strong labour market supported further consumer spending and kept the economy “moving”.

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  • Busy day in the Euro-area today with Germany, France, Spain and, Eurozone Aggregate CPI coming out as well as Germany retail sales and France GDP. The euro trades in a narrow range this morning ahead of the data, currently at 1.0835. We have tried to break past 1.08 yesterday ahead of the release of US data but the pair got rejected there and bounced higher to roughly where we are now.

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  • In the UK, Mortgage Approvals are due, and cable remains range bound. We have now been trading in the 1.26-1.27 range for two weeks and I don’t see it changing unless we get any alarming data out of the US or if more BOE officials start to come out as more dovish.

  • Bitcoin had a wild ride in the last 24 hours after the stock market pared gains. The cryptocurrency jumped as much as 13% to trade at $63,968, the first time since November 2021.

Economic Calendar

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NZD - ANZ Business Confidence
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AUD - Retail Sales m/m
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AUD - Private Capital Expenditure q/q
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AUD - Private Sector Credit m/m
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JPY - BOJ Core CPI y/y
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JPY - Housing Starts y/y
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EUR - French Final Private Payrolls q/q
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EUR - German Retail Sales m/m
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EUR - German Import Prices m/m
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EUR - German Prelim CPI m/m
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EUR - French Consumer Spending m/m
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EUR - French Prelim CPI m/m
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EUR - French Prelim GDP q/q
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CHF - GDP q/q
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CHF - KOF Economic Barometer
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EUR - Spanish Flash CPI y/y
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EUR - German Unemployment Change
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GBP - M4 Money Supply m/m
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GBP - Mortgage Approvals
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GBP - Net Lending to Individuals m/m
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CAD - GDP m/m
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USD - Core PCE Price Index m/m
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USD - Unemployment Claims
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USD - Personal Income m/m
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USD - Personal Spending m/m
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USD - Chicago PMI
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USD - Pending Home Sales m/m
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USD - Natural Gas Storage
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USD - FOMC Member Bostic Speaks
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All - G20 Meetings
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USD - FOMC Member Mester Speaks
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NZD - Building Consents m/m
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JPY - Unemployment Rate

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.85609 0.85526
gbp/usd 1.26709 1.26566
gbp/aud 1.95007 1.94267
gbp/nzd 2.07861 2.07367
usd/jpy 150.657 149.618
eur/usd 1.08401 1.08278
gbp/jpy 190.75 189.526
eur/cnh 7.81965 7.7993
usd/cnh 7.21419 7.20255
Equities and Commodities
Nasdaq 100 17874.1
DOW 38906.7
S&P 500 5071.51
BRENT CRUDE 81.96
WTI 78.39
GOLD 2036.61

This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute any recommendation or solicitation to any person to enter into any transaction or adopt any trading strategy, nor does it constitute any prediction of likely future movements in exchange rates or prices or any representation that any such future movements will not exceed those shown on any illustration. All exchange rates and figures appearing are for illustrative purposes only. You are advised to make your own independent judgment with respect to any matter contained herein.