Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
March 25, 2024

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  • Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was slightly dovish in last week’s post-FOMC press conference and what really got our attention was when he was asked if the central bank could cut interest rates as soon as May or June.
  • Fed’s Powell stated that earlier cuts could happen in case of an unexpected deterioration of the labour market or any other critical events between meetings, especially due to the lags of monetary policy in the labour and credit markets, which after 525 basis points of rate hikes, seem to have had little impact so far.
  • Fed policymakers continue to focus on the path of inflation, and they expect this week’s core PCE data on Friday to be softer than the hot CPI print release.
  • Key data/events to watch this week in the US: 4Q GDP QoQ (Thur.); Initial Jobless Claims (Thurs.); U. Michigan Sentiment (Thur.), PCE Deflator (Fri.); Core PCE Deflator (Fri.); Personal Income for Feb. ( Fri.); Personal Consumption.

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  • Looks like a quiet week for the UK and Euro-area with not much data expected to come and daunt the markets. The euro consolidates above 1.08 against the greenback, while sterling continues to hold above 1.26 after the US Dollar had one of the best weeks since January last week.
  • Key data/events to watch this week in the Euro-area: Spain HICP Inflation (YoY) (Wed.); Riksbank Policy Rate decision (Wed.); France, Italy, and Poland HICP Inflation (YoY) (Fri).

Economic Calendar

:
GBP - CBI Realized Sales
:
USD - FOMC Member Bostic Speaks
:
USD - New Home Sales
:
GBP - MPC Member Mann Speaks
:
USD - FOMC Member Cook Speaks
:
AUD - Westpac Consumer Sentiment
:
JPY - SPPI y/y

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.85815 0.85602
gbp/usd 1.26172 1.25844
gbp/aud 1.93431 1.92753
gbp/nzd 2.10385 2.0876
usd/jpy 151.427 151.048
eur/usd 1.08224 1.08009
gbp/jpy 190.848 190.264
eur/cnh 7.86942 7.824
usd/cnh 7.28184 7.2315
Equities and Commodities
Nasdaq 100 18332
DOW 39433.5
S&P 500 5232.63
BRENT CRUDE 85.8
WTI 81.06
GOLD 2166.85

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.