UK Slips Back Into Technical Recession; FOMC Statement Eyed Later Today: April 25, 2012

(FI) Finland Mar Preliminary Retail Sales Volume Y/Y: 5.7% v 3.2%e

(JP) Japan Mar Final Machine Tool Orders Y/Y: 1.6% v 2.4% prelim

(ES) Spain Mar Producer Prices M/M: 0.8% v 0.6% prior; Y/Y: 3.3% v 3.4% prior

(PH) Philippines Mar Budget Balance (PHP): -28.6B v 10.7B prior

(PL) Poland Mar Retail Sales M/M: 15.7% v 15.1%e; Y/Y: 10.7% v 10.3%e

(PL) Poland Mar Unemployment Rate: 13.3% v 13.4%e

(TW) Taiwan Mar M2 Money Supply Y/Y: 5.1% v 4.9%e; M1 Money Supply Y/Y: 3.5% v 2.8% prior

(UK) Q1 Advanced GDP Q/Q: -0.2% v +0.1e; Y/Y: 0.0% v 0.3%e

(UK) Feb Index of Services M/M: -0.4% v +0.2%e; 3M/3M: 0.2% v 0.5%e

Fixed Income:

(EU) ECB allotted $1.2B in 7-Day USD Liquidity Tender at 0.64% vs. $876.3M prior

(EU) ECB allotted $5.2B in 3-month USD Liquidity Tender at 0.64% vs. $6.3B prior

(SE) Sweden sold total SEK10.0B vs.SEK10B indicated in 3-month and 6-month Bills

(EU) ECB allotted €21.3B in 3-Month Tender MRO vs. €20.0Be

(DE) Germany sold €2.405B in new 2.5% July 2044 Bund; avg yield 2.41% v 2.62% prior (record low); Bid-to-cover: 1.1x v 2.1x prior (technically uncovered)

Notes/Observations

FOMC decision takes center stage.

AAPL beat on both top and bottom line.

EU officials pondering whether to soften 2013 budget targets.

ECB lending survey showed that banks did benefit from LTRO operations.

UK GDP shows country in technical recession.

Germany's 30-bund auction was technically uncovered (again).

Equities

Indices: FTSE 100 +0.30% at 5727, DAX +1.3% at 6674, CAC-40 +1.7% at 3222, IBEX-35 +2.5% at 7173, FTSE MIB +2.5% at 14,551, SMI +0.30% at 6143.

European equity indices opened the session broadly higher amid the plethora of corporate earnings releases, following positive leads from the US markets and better than expected earnings from Apple. Overall banks and mining related shares are trading to the upside, ahead of the later today's US Fed meeting.

UK listed Standard Life [SL.UK] has gained by more than 1.5% after issuing its trading update, while Premier Foods [PFD.UK] is higher by over 1%, following the release of its Q1 sales. Additionally, Johnston Press [JPR] has lost more than 6% on its FY results. Ahead of earnings, Glaxo [GSK.UK] is declining by over 0.5%. In France, Air Liquide [AI.FR], Atos Origin [ATO.FR] and Peugeot [UG.FR] are all trading higher after releasing their respective Q1 sales figures. However, Nexan s [NEX.FR] is lower by over 12% on concerns about the company's margin outlook. Siemen's has gained more than 1%, after reporting its quarterly results, while SAP [SAP.DE] n is slightly lower following the release of its final Q1 earnings report.

In other German movers, MTU Aero Engines [MTX.DE] is higher by over 2% after reporting Q1 earnings, while Duerr AG [DUE.DE] has gained by more than 4%, following its release of better than expected Q1 results. Credit Suisse [CSGN.CH] is currently trading flat following the release of its Q1 earnings report. ABB [ABBN.CH] has lost more than 2%, after releasing earnings. Dutch name TomTom [TOM2.NL] is higher by over 2%, following the release of its Q1 earnings. Also, TomTom declined to comment on the speculation that the company could be taken private.

Spanish banks BBVA [BBVA.ES] and Bankinter [BKT.ES] are both sharply higher following the release of their respective earnings reports. Abertis [ABE.ES] is higher by over 5% on speculation that ACS is in talks to sell some of its stake in the company. ACS [ACS.ES] is higher by over 6% on the session. In Sweden, Swedbank [SWEDA.SE], Electrolux [ELUXB.SE] and Ericsson [ERICB.SE] are all trading higher after reporting better than expected Q1 earnings.