Market movers today
In the UK the minutes from the MPC's April meeting will be released. We expect that the committee voted unanimously in favour of keeping the Bank Rate and the stock of purchased assets unchanged at 0.50% and GBP375bn, respectively. We will look for any comments on the GBP, as the minutes from the March meeting revealed that the MPC has become more worried about the appreciation of GBP in recent months. Note that we have postponed our expectations for the first Bank Rate hike three months from August 2015 to November 2015.
We believe that consumer confidence in the euro area can continue to improve, although it is at the highest level since 2007. The still low oil price, declining unemployment rate and better financial conditions should support consumer sentiment further.
The US NAHB index rebounded in April, suggesting that housing market activity is improving. We expect existing home sales to extend the February rebound in March and increase 3.4% m/m, which should take the sales pace back to late 2014 levels.
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