China Credit Ratings Cut To Negative

Today’s Economic events

UK Gfk Consumer confidence 0 vs. -1

Australia New home sales m/m -5.30% vs. 0.60% previously

Australia private sector credit m/m 0.60% vs. 0.50%

Japan housing starts y/y 7.80% vs. -2.20%

French consumer spending m/m 0.60% vs. 0.10%

French preliminary CPI m/m 0.70% vs. 0.50%

BoE Gov. Carney speech

UK Current account -32.7Bn vs. -21.1Bn

UK Index of services 3m/3m 0.90% vs. 0.80%

UK Q4 GDP, 3rd revision 0.60% vs. 0.50%

UK revised business investment -2.0% vs. -2.0%

Italy Preliminary CPI m/m 0.20% vs. .10%

Eurozone flash CPI estimates y/y -0.10% vs. -0.10%; Core CPI y/y 1.0% vs. 0.90%

Canada GDP m/m 0.60% vs. 0.30%; y/y 1.50 vs. 1.0%

US weekly jobless claims 276k vs. 265k

Coming Up

Chicago PMI

Fed’s Dudley speech

Fed’s Evans Speech

Australia AIG Manufacturing Index

The last trading day of the month and the first quarter of 2016 is almost coming to an end, and the markets are gearing up for a new month and a quarter, being kick-started by the US nonfarm payrolls tomorrow.

The US Dollar continued to weaken following a brief bout of recovery which soon fizzled. The Asian markets remained mixed with the Nikkie225 closing another day with losses, down 0.71%. The Shanghai Composite edged higher with modest gains of 0.12%. Data from the Asian session included Japan’s housing starts which increased 7.80% on an annualized basis, more than the estimated forecasts of 2.80%. USDJPY was trading flat for the most of the day but soon continued its decline. The currency pair is down 0.15% trading at 112.25.

Standard & Poors, the rating agency cut the credit ratings of China from Stable to Negative, noting that the economy’s rebalancing would take longer than previously anticipated. However, the downgrade in the ratings is unlikely to dampen investor appetite for now.

AUDUSD continued to grind higher following early trading retreat to session lows at $0.7635. New home sales data fell -5.30% for the month, but the data was ignored ahead of a new month, and, more importantly, the RBA’s meeting coming up. For the day, the Aussie is up 0.35%, trading at $0.77. The NZDUSD is also moving higher today but at a slower pace. Prices are trading at $0.695 following a dip to session lows at $0.6893 in early trading.