Market Pulse - Currencies
US personal consumption holds up better than expected at the start of 2022
Americans opened their wallets and spent freely at the start of the year despite a lack of further income growth.
US consumer confidence edges up in late February, University of Michigan says
US consumer confidence continued to languish near its weakest level in the past decade amid rising inflation, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.
Russia-US reportedly agree to leaders' summit, Russian security council meeting scheduled
Russia and the US reportedly agreed in principle to a summit of their respective leaders, bolstering hopes of a peaceful resolution of the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Europe close: Stocks end lower after reports of ceasefire breaches in Ukraine
European shares slipped into the red on Thursday as Ukrainian and separatist forces in the country's east traded accusations of having broken ceasefire agreements along the demarcation line.
Factory activity in US mid-Atlantic region slows modestly in February
Factory activity in the US mid-Atlantic region slowed a little in February, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.
US retail sales jump past forecasts in January
Americans splashed out with abandon at the start of the year.
Euro area industrial production jumps past forecasts amid surge in demand for capital goods
Euro area industrial production jumped past forecasts at the end of 2021 on the back of a surge in demand for capital goods.
US producer prices outpace forecasts, some see peak in core inflation soon
Wholesale price inflation in the US continued rising at a brisk pace last month amid big gains both at the headline and core level.
Euro area employment growth remains steady during the fourth quarter of 2021
Employment growth in the single currency area slowed at the end of last year but nevertheless continued to grow at a steady clip in annual terms.
St.Louis Fed chief makes case for front-loading more policy tightening
A top US central bank official laid out the case on Monday for front-loading the removal of central bank accommodation, although he believed that was possible without disrupting markets.
IEA calls on OPEC+ to allow Middle East producers to boost output
Oil supplies from OPEC+ over the course of 2022 could undershoot the producer alliance's own goals by 1. 0bn barrels unless those member countries who have spare capacity on hand increase their output, the world's oil watchdog said.
ECB's Lagarde says all moves by central bank need to be 'gradual'
The European Central Bank's boss hit back overnight at critics, arguing that any action to bring inflation back into line needed to be "gradual", attributing record inflation readings to energy prices and pointing out that current wage pressures were "very moderate".
US CPI picks up more quickly than expected in January
The cost of living in the US picked up more quickly than expected at the start of 2022 amid broad-based gains among the various categories of goods and services.
Weekly US jobless claims drop more quickly than expected
The number of Americans filing for unemployment claims for the first time decreased by a bit more than anticipated last week.
ECB may raise rates in 2022, Buba chief says
Interest rates in the single currency bloc may need to go higher as soon as 2022 as the costs of acting too slowly could be "significantly" higher, the new head of the German central bank said.
US December trade deficit falls a tad short of forecasts
America's shortfall on trade with the rest of the world widened by less than expected at the end of 2021.
Governing council 'will not be rushed' into interest rate hikes, ECB chief says
The European Central Bank will not be rushed into interest rate hikes and observers shouldn't overdo it when speculating on possible hikes.
US unit labour costs miss forecasts in Q4, labour productivity beats
Unit labour costs in the US undershot economists' forecasts by a wide margin at the end of 2021 as productivity growth surged.
ECB stays put, PEPP still set to end in March
The European Central Bank kept all its main policy levers at their current settings following Thursday's meeting of its governing council.
Euro area services slowed a bit more quickly than expected in January, survey shows
Services sector activity in the single currency area slowed further at the start of 2022 due to the drag from rising numbers of Omicron cases, the revised results of a closely-followed survey revealed.