Summary:

  • UK GDP reading to be released in the morning

  • US GDP report may give greenback chance to extend recent rally

  • Some top central bankers from Europe to deliver speeches today

In Friday’s calendar we have two reports that looks especially interesting. The first one is the UK quarterly GDP report that is going to be released in the morning while in the afternoon its US counterpart will take the stage. Apart from that some notable officials from the Europe’s central banks will deliver their speeches throughout the day including Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan. It is also worth to note that a bunch of the eurozone countries is going to publish their preliminary inflation reports thus there is a chance for increased volatility on the EUR as well.

9:30 am BST – UK, GDP for Q1. The latest PMI readings from the United Kingdom saw a little deterioration therefore expectations ahead of the quarterly GDP report are rather low. Adding to that the fact that Bank of England suggested weather conditions may have impacted the economy negatively in the first three months of the year the bar of expectations is even lower. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg point for a reading of 1.4% in annual terms and 0.3% in the quarterly ones.

1:30 pm BST – US, GDP for Q1. When it comes to the US GDP print for the first quarter no fireworks are expected either. In terms of the US growth first three months of the year are statistically weaker than the rest of the year. The latest drop in the retail sales may suggest that this tendency is set to continue. Given the fact that the US labour market tightening slowed somewhat a scope for the disappointment is there. Market consensus expects that the US economy grew in the first quarter at the pace of 2% QoQ, indicating a significant drop against 2.9% QoQ seen in the Q4 2017.

3:00 pm BST – US, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for April. The preliminary reading released on 13th of April saw a drop to 97.8 pts from 101.4 pts. The decline was in fact expected yet much smaller. However, it would be unwise to say that the sentiment deteriorated significantly as the gauge slid from the very high levels (not seen since 2004). The today’s final reading is expected to inch higher to the 98 pts.

Central bank speakers scheduled for today:

9:00 am BST – SNB’s Jordan and Struder

9:00 am BST – ECB’s Mersch

3:00 pm BST – BOE Governor Carney

3:15 pm BST – BOE’s Haldane

link do file download link

 After failing to breach the 78.6% Fibo level the GBPUSD reversed towards the 61.8% retracement level of the Brexit slump. GDP reports may decide whether we will be offered a break below or bounce up. Source: xStaiton5