weekly-market-report-analysis

5 Financial Market events from last week

Key market news and events that has affected the market trend last week.

Check out the 5 main market events below.

1. Inflation in the Eurozone fell

Inflation in the Eurozone fell unexpectedly in the month of March, both measures of inflation, the headline and the core easing further away from the ECB’s 2% inflation target rate.

Official data showed that headline consumer prices rose 1.4% on a year over year basis in March.

This slowed from 1.5% in February.

Core inflation which excludes food and energy prices rose 0.8%, slowing from 1.0% increase in February.

The core inflation rate fell to the lowest levels since April 2018.

Despite the declines, investors expect inflation to rise once again in April due to the Easter effect which see’s higher air fares during the month.

2. US Construction spending increased

Construction spending in the United States unexpectedly increase in the month of February.

Data from the Commerce department showed that construction spending rose 1.0% on the month.

This was in contrast to the median expectations of a 0.2% decline that was forecast.

The unexpected gains in the construction came on public construction which jumped 3.6% on an annualized basis.

Highway constructions rose 9.5% while private construction grew 0.2% on an annualized basis.

Compared to the year before, construction spending advanced 1.1%.

3. Japan Tankan Manufacturing Index fell

The Bank of Japan released its quarterly survey of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors on Monday last week.

The tankan manufacturing index showed that business morale slipped in the first quarter of the year.

The index for manufacturers fell to 12 in March, compared to 19 in the previous quarter.

However, firms surveyed said that they plan to increase capital spending by 1.2%.

This was higher than the median estimates of a 0.4% increase.

4. Australia expect declines in the national unemployment rate

The Reserve Bank of Australia held its monetary policy meeting last week.

The central bank left interest rates unchanged at 1.50% as widely expected.

The central bank, in its forward guidance gave a measured approach ahead of the budget release.

The central bank maintained that the labor market remained strong and that it would underpin growth in the long term.

The RBA expects further declines in the national unemployment rate.

The data comes after retail sales report released later in the week showed an increase of 0.8%, beating forecasts of a 0.3%.

Retail sales also advanced from 0.1% from the month before.

5. U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs

The monthly payrolls report for March showed that the U.S. jobs market rebounded during the month.

The U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs during the month following a disappointment in the month of February.

The average wages grew just 0.1% on the month missing estimates of a 0.3% increase.

Wages grew at a slower pace compared to 0.4% increase in the month before.

The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.8% and was in line with the broad estimates.

The data comes as the recent weekly jobless claims report showed that the number of people filing for unemployment fell to a 50-year low.

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Forex Market Currency Performance

GBP – British Pound

The British pound managed to emerge as the top performing currency last week which was rather surprising.

The biggest gains however came against the NZD.

NZD – New Zealand Dollar

The New Zealand dollar was the worst performing currency last week.

It shed 1.23% on the week following previous week’s of gains which were completely erased.

JPY – Japanese Yen

The Japanese yen was the second worst performing currency losing 0.64% on the week.

The declines in the yen reflected the global risk on sentiment in the market.

However, the JPY remains trading mixed.

The declines last week marks a two week consecutive falls in the currency after it initially rose 1.40% three weeks ago.

EUR – Euro

The EUR currency was down by a modest 0.09% on the week.

The common currency managed to maintain modest declines after it increased 0.83% the week before.

With the ECB meeting coming up this week, the euro could be expected to trade flat into Thursday’s meeting.

CAD – Canadian Dollar

The CAD was down 0.28% on the week following a weak jobs report.

However, the CAD only partly erased the gains of 0.59% from the week before.

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