Market movers today
The main events today are the euro area preliminary first quarter GDP and the FOMC meeting. At the May FOMC meeting, we expect the Fed to maintain the target range at 1.50-1.75%. We believe the Fed is unlikely to change its policy signal significantly. The expected June hike is almost already fully priced in.
After GDP growth beat expectations and showed growth of 0.7% q/q in the last three quarters of 2017 in the euro area, we expect a slowdown in Q1 18 to 0.4% q/q after some moderation, in particular in the latter part of the quarter. However, we are still in expansionary territory, expecting solid GDP growth throughout 2018.
PMIs from Norway and Sweden are also due out. Swedish PMI manufacturing was quite close to the 2014-16 level at around 55 in March and could very well fall slightly below this. The same slowdown tendency is visible in services PMI but it is still a bit higher at close to 60. In Norway and Sweden, it is time for PMIs.
To read the entire report Please click on the pdf File Below: