Weak GDP Data From Europe Causes Concern

The EUR carries on dropping through the Asian session close to its 5 week low following some weak data to come out of both France and Germany. German GDP figure moved up 0.1 per cent, although below investor expectations for Q1 of 0.3 per cent, still well above the last quarter’s 0.7 per cent drop. In France the GDP dropped 0.2 per cent which is below the expected 0.1 per cent drop following a 0.2 per cent drop in the previous quarter. Eurozone GDP preliminary data dropped 0.2 per cent in Q1.

While the GBP moves up against the USD today following some good employment data released from the UK and investor fears about the US Fed perhaps exiting prematurely from the monthly bond buying program. Investors remain cautious ahead of some economic data releases from the US later in the day.

Stocks
In Europe this morning the stocks were mostly down following the German and French releases. The EURO STOXX 50 declined 0.18 per cent with the French CAC 40 down 0.15 per cent and the German DAX shrugging off the data to inch up 0.06 per cent.

In the US the stocks closed higher last night following a hedge fund managers’ comments about being bullish on US stocks which fuelled a rally on the stocks. The Dow Jones closed up 0.82 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 1.01 per cent and the Nasdaq up 0,69 per cent.

Asian stocks gained in the overnight session boosted by Sony’s share prices and remarkable profits for the first time in many years. Japanese stocks are broadly preforming higher on the back of the weaker Yen and therefore cheaper export prices. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 0.52 per cent, the Australian ASX 200 dropped 0.81per cent ad the Nikkei was up 2.29 per cent.

Forex
Dollar still climbing against most of the other majors in overnight session ahead of the US data release today. The EUR/USD was down 0.15 per cent on negative data from the Eurozone. The pair touched 1.2900. The GBP climbed against the greenback by 0.19 per cent to 1.5240. The Yen continued to weaken against the dollar overnight, hitting 102.61 a 0.08 per cent addition. The AUD declined against the USD following soft data from Australia. The pair hit 0.9884.

Commodities
Gold moved up overnight even with the USD gains, usually gold and USD inversely track each other as both are considered safe havens when the other is performing weakly. Gold was up 0.06 per cent to $1.425.35 troy oz.

Natural gas continues to gain from weather reports with the commodity jumping up 1.85 per cent to $3.999 BTMUs.