European stocks climb this morning after a mixed session in Asia
· Markets remained volatile on Wednesday; tech headlines / trade concerns / quarter end flow
· UK final GDP for Q4, and the US PCE price index releases in focus today
Market News
- European stocks climbed this morning after a mixed session in Asia, while US futures also rose ahead of the Easter holiday. 10-year Treasury yields remained below 2.8 percent as German bund yields ticked higher
- Markets remained volatile on Wednesday with equities continuing to digest the likelihood of greater regulation within the tech sector, trade barriers and month / quarter end flows
- In FX, USD demand stood out across the board; GBPUSD struggled to rally despite positive Brexit news, with Ireland becoming less of a tail risk. Our traders note flow dynamic remains two-way in GBP, with demand vs. EUR from our institutional client base
- In line with expectations, the SARB cut its policy repo rate by 25bp to 6.50%, and gave no indication that further cuts would follow. The Governor made it clear that this was not the beginning of an easing cycle and that future decisions would be data dependent and sensitive to the assessment of the balance of risks to the outlook
- UK final GDP for Q4, and the US PCE price index releases will be watched today, although none of the releases have much potential to be market moving in our view
- Price action today will continue to be driven by month / quarter end flow; Barclays model outlining strong USD demand