The last day of March presents a dynamic mix of fundamental reports from around the world.
First off, March PMI data from China was better than anticipated, suggesting that the country might have overcome the brief slump its economy experienced earlier this year.
The United Kingdom, on the other hand, disappointed with its latest housing starts report, but more than made up for it with favorable GDP readings for the last quarter of 2020.
France’s and Italy’s inflation rates were in line with the forecasts, as was Germany’s unemployment rate. But Germany also presented a better than expected unemployment change report.
The eurozone-wide flash core inflation reading for March, however, fell to 0.9% against a forecast of 1.1%. Other inflation reports from the EU were in line with the forecasts.
Later today we expect a GDP report from Canada, as well as mortgage and home sales data from the United States. And most interesting of all, tonight President Biden will reveal more about his infrastructure spending bill, which is estimated to be worth around $2 trillion and help the country transition to renewable energy.
At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and allies is meeting today to discuss how much oil to pump into the markets in May. Some countries within OPEC+ have expressed a desire to start selling more oil to benefit from the current pre-pandemic highs in its price, but Saudi Arabia has so far kept everyone on a tight leash, stressing the ongoing pandemic as a reason not to start supplying too much oil.
In light of Joe Biden’s upcoming speech, the major US stock indices today will trade with a mixed bias. Thanks to Biden’s bias towards renewable energy sources, tech stocks might be able to gain more than the rest, thus making the Nasdaq 100 the most likely index to make any gains today.
US Treasury bond yields continue to rise to multi-year highs, while European bonds remained neutral, despite some incendiary comments by ECB President Christine Lagarde.
