The following table lists the key economic data and other events that came out during the week of April 20th through April 24th, with release times displayed for the GMT time zone.
The list also indicates how much each release deviated from the market consensus forecast upon release, as well as what the affected major currency pair or pairs did after each event or set of events.
Sunday April 19th
Day 3 ALL IMF Meetings: U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that,
“We are ready to welcome new additions to the international development architecture, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, provided that these institutions complement existing international financial institutions, including by adopting their high quality standards. Having the AIIB co-finance projects with existing institutions will help demonstrate a commitment to these high standards.”
The currency rose.
11:45pm NZD CPI -0.3% versus -0.2% expected. The currency fell.
Monday April 20th
3:05pm CAD BOC Governor Poloz said that,
“The U.S. economy has great fundamentals, I think it’s going to pop and we’ll have performance there that is a lot stronger than everyone’s expecting. Our biggest risk I think today is the U.S. economy will prove to be quite a bit stronger than most of us are assuming.”
The currency fell.
5:30pm AUD RBA Governor Stevens said that,
“The RBA has clearly signaled a willingness to lower interest rates further. The question of whether interest rates should be reduced has to be on the table.”
The currency fell.
Tuesday April 21st
2:30am AUD Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes noted that,
“The US dollar had appreciated a little further on a trade-weighted basis over March, taking the rise since July 2014 to 14 per cent. Over the same period, members observed that both the euro and the Australian dollar had depreciated by around 20 per cent against the US dollar. While the renminbi had both appreciated and depreciated at different times since July 2014, these moves had roughly netted out against the US dollar overall and the renminbi had therefore appreciated noticeably against most other currencies. Members also noted that the Australian dollar had recorded an all-time low against the New Zealand dollar.”
The currency fell.
10:00am EUR German ZEW Economic Sentiment 53.5 versus 55.6 expected. The currency fell.
10:00am EUR ZEW Economic Sentiment 64.8 versus 63.7 expected. The currency fell.
1:30pm CAD Wholesale Sales -0.4% versus 0.2% expected. The currency rose.
9:00pm CAD Annual Budget Release noted that,
“We are eternally grateful to the men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line every day defending our freedoms. Our Government will ensure they continue to have what they need to accomplish the dangerous tasks Canadians ask of them. We will increase the annual escalator for National Defence’s budget to 3% starting in 2017-18. As a result, our spending on Canada’s military will increase by $11.8 billion over 10 years.”
The currency rose.
Wednesday April 22nd
12:50am JPY Trade Balance 0.00T versus -0.41T expected. The currency rose.
2:30am AUD CPI 0.2% versus 0.1% expected. The currency rose.
2:30am AUD Trimmed Mean CPI 0.6% versus 0.6% expected. The currency rose.
9:30am GBP MPC Official Bank Rate Votes 0-0-9 versus 0-0-9 expected. The currency rose.
9:30am GBP MPC Asset Purchase Facility Votes 0-0-9 versus 0-0-9 expected. The currency rose.
3:00pm USD Existing Home Sales 5.19M versus 5.04M expected. The currency fell.
3:30pm USD Crude Oil Inventories 5.3M (NYSE:MMM) versus 2.7M expected. The currency fell.
Thursday April 23rd
2:30am AUD NAB Quarterly Business Confidence 0 versus 2 expected. The currency rose.
2:45am CNY HSBC (LONDON:HSBA) Flash Manufacturing PMI 49.2 versus 49.6 expected. The currency rose.
7:00am CHF Trade Balance 2.52B versus 2.16B expected. The currency rose.
8:00am EUR French Flash Manufacturing PMI 48.8 versus 49.4 expected. The currency rose.
8:00am EUR French Flash Services PMI 50.8 versus 52.5 expected. The currency rose.
8:00am EUR Spanish Unemployment Rate 23.8% versus 23.5% expected. The currency rose.
8:30am EUR German Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.9 versus 53.1 expected. The currency rose.
8:30am EUR German Flash Services PMI 54.4 versus 55.6 expected. The currency rose.
9:00am EUR Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.9 versus 52.6 expected. The currency rose.
9:00am EUR Flash Services PMI 53.7 versus 54.5 expected. The currency rose.
9:30am GBP Retail Sales -0.5% versus 0.4% expected. The currency rose.
9:30am GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 6.7B versus 6.6B expected. The currency rose.
1:30pm USD Weekly Initial Jobless Claims 295K versus 288K expected. The currency fell.
2:45pm USD Flash Manufacturing PMI 54.2 versus 55.6 expected. The currency fell.
3:00pm USD New Home Sales 481K versus 514K expected. The currency fell.
Friday April 24th
9:00am EUR German Ifo Business Climate 108.6 versus 108.5 expected. The currency rose.
All Day EUR Eurogroup Meetings: Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup, said that,
“We are all aware that time is running out. Too much time has been lost in the past two months. It is therefore clear that these discussions need to make significantly more progress, so that the institutions can give their green light on the comprehensive package which will then go to the Eurogroup for the political decision. The responsibility for that lies mainly on the side of the Greek authorities. Finding an agreement is first and foremost in Greece's interest. I would also like to reiterate that the agreement of 20 February remains our framework for reaching a deal. We will take stock of the situation again at our next regular Eurogroup in May.”
The currency rose.
1:30pm USD Core Durable Goods Orders -0.6% versus 0.2% expected. The currency fell.
1:30pm USD Durable Goods Orders -1.1% versus 0.7% expected. The currency fell.
3:30pm CAD BOC Governor Poloz has not yet spoken. The currency rose.
Technical Recap for the Majors This Week
EUR/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly Higher from a 1.08107 open to a 1.08316 close.
USD/JPY:
Forecast: Mildly Lower
Actual: Mildly higher from a 118.928 open to 119.109 close.
GBP/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Higher from a 1.49664 open to a 1.51392 close.
AUD/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly higher from a 0.78043 open to a 0.78050 close.
USD/CAD:
Forecast: Mildly Lower
Actual: Mildly lower from a 1.22233 open to a 1.21570 close.
NZD/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Lower from a 0.7695 open to a 0.7580 close.
Risk Statement: Trading Foreign Exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The possibility exists that you could lose more than your initial deposit. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you.