Market insights

Good Morning,

Retail sales have rocketed up in April; sales rose by 9.2% in April after the lockdown measures were eased. Clothing sales rose by nearly 70% in comparison to the month before. Sales were over 10% above what they were before the pandemic, the online sales have dropped very slightly.

Initial jobless claims in the US came to 444k which was slightly below what was predicted (450k). Labour markets are improving following the recent downward trend.

Like the recent days, there has been minimal action within the currency markets; the major currency pairs are still trading within narrow ranges as they have been for the last few days. 

The dollar has a bit more of a softer tone as shown in EUR/USD this morning, there is a similar tone within the GBP/USD pair. EUR/GBP remains around the mark it was sitting at yesterday, with minimal changes. Sterling remains strong against the other major currencies such as the euro and dollar.

This morning, UK retail sales are above predictions of 4.5% as they have risen by 9.2%; this is higher than they were before the pandemic by around 10%.

Looking at the day ahead, the UK, US and Eurozone flash PMIs for May are expected for May; the main tone predicted here is that the UK and US’s economy will proceed to keep growing and continue to get stronger. As well as this, Eurozone customer confidence and US existing home sales will be released today.

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Todays Economic Calendar

Fri 21st UK: 00:01 Gfk Consumer Confidence (May)

JPN: 00:30 CPI (April)

- Core

JPN: 01:30 Flash Jibun Manufacturing PMI (May)

UK: 07:00 Retail Sales (April)

- Ex-Fuel

FRA: 08:15 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May)

GER: 08:30 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May)

EU-19: 09:00 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May)

- Manufacturing / Services 62.9 / 50.5 62.4 / 52.0 UK: 09:30 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May) 60.7 61.8 - Manufacturing / Services 58.9 / 61.0 60.0 / 62.0 US: 14:45 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May) 63.5 63.4 - Manufacturing / Services 60.5 / 64.7 60.4 / 64.6 US: 15:00 Existing Home Sales (April) +6.01m / -3.7% +6.06m / +0.8% EU-19: 15:00 Flash Consumer Confidence (May)

UK: 09:30 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May)

- Manufacturing / Services

US: 14:45 Flash Markit Composite PMI (May)

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