Fundamental Headlines
• ECB Forgoes Action – Wall Street Journal
• Greece Passes Austerity Package – Wall Street Journal
• U.K. Election Ends in Hung Parliament - Financial Times
• Bank Default Risk Soars to Record; Credit Default Swaps Beat Lehman Crisis - Bloomberg
• Clegg Says Conservatives Should Have First Chance to Form U.K. Government - Bloomberg
EUR/USD – Taking a look at the economic docket, German industrial production was the only major event scheduled during the European trade as figures showed that production in March more than doubled economists’ expectations as the construction industry shrugged off the coldest winter in 14 years. In Spain, the central bank said that the economy emerged from recession in the first quarter, growing at 0.1% from the three months through December. Furthermore, German lawmakers approved loans of as much as 22.4 billion euros for cash – stricken Greece as the lower house of parliament voted 390 to 72 in favor of the 110 billion euro lifeline from the EU and IMF. To discuss and other topics, please visit the EUR/USD forum.
GBP/USD – Producer prices in the U.K. advanced 1.4% in April after climbing 0.9% the previous month, exceeding economists’ expectations of 0.5% as the cost of oil increased fanning inflation pressures in the economy. Meanwhile, the result of U.K.’s highly anticipated election resulted in a hung parliament as the conservative party was just shy of sealing the deal. According to Britain’s constitution, the sitting prime minister in a hung parliament makes the first attempt to forming a ruling a coalition. Looking ahead, the Bank of England is widely expected to keep rates unchanged at 0.50%, and may also hold its bond-purchasing program at 200 billion as it assesses the recovery’s strength and the inflation outlook. To discuss and other topics, please visit the EUR/USD forum.
Written by Michael Wright
Questions? Email me at mwright@fxcm.com
DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.
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