Daily Update - 19th April 2017
Yesterday’s Focus The minutes of the latest RBA meeting when interest rates were held unchanged at 1.5% have been released, noting that the labour market is somewhat weaker than expected, keeping wage growth low. The RBA expanded further on the CPI, Headline inflation was expected to pick up over 2017 to be above 2 per cent. However, the rise in underlying inflation was expected to be more gradual; wage growth and broader measures of labour cost pressures remained subdued and competition in the retail sector continued to be strong. In the data space, yesterday’s results did not help the greenback either, as Housing Starts, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization have all come in short of expectations for the month of March. Today’s Focus Today the Eurostat will release its Trade Balance that shows the imports and exports of total good services. It is an event that generates some volatility for the EUR. Consumer Price Index also will be released that indicates to measure inflation and changes in purchasing trends. Basically, it’s a comparison between retail shopping goods and services. The Beige Book reports on the current US economic situation. Through interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources are gathered by each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. The survey gives a picture of the overall US economic growth. Similarly, the Ministry of Finance will release its report on the balance between amount of balance between imports and exports. Therefore, any variation in the figure influences the domestic economy. Apart from this the Ministry will also release the report on Foreign investments in Japan stocks. This report will detail the flows from public sector excluding Bank of Japan.
