Public holidays across most of the major markets make for a very slow start to the trading week on Monday. The highlight, if you can call it that, is the Spanish house price index scheduled for release sometime Monday morning. Spanish house prices have fallen quarter-on-quarter since July 2008, and there is scant evidence for a recovery this time around. However, Spain *is* the world’s thirteenth largest economy by GDP, and *any* data that suggests a recovery is almost certain to boost the euro against its currency peers.
On Tuesday it’s over to the U.S. for Existing Home Sales figures at 2 in the afternoon, where dollar bulls will be looking for an improvement on February’s numbers, which slumped to their lowest level since July 2012. Harsh winter weather has been blamed for poor Q1 data, but an improvement in the U.S. labour market should lead to a rebound in existing and new home sales in the coming months. If Tuesday’s figures beat forecasts, Banc De Binary analysts will be looking at put options on the euro-dollar for the 30 to 90 minutes following the release.
On Wednesday, we head to Berlin for the release of German manufacturing PMI data for April. Last month’s reading was the lowest since November 2013, but still above 50, indicating positive sentiment among the purchasing managers of Europe’s strongest economy. The economic outlook for Germany remains generally positive with purchasing managers remaining optimistic about the year-ahead due to signs of a domestic upturn, increased orders, and a rise in export opportunities. Our analysts are expecting an improvement on last month’s 53.8, and will be looking at CALL opportunities on the DAX index and EUR/USD.
Thursday now and it’s back to the U.S. for the all-important jobless figures at 12:30 pm. Layoffs are trending lower and hiring is finally starting to gain momentum after being held back by severe weather earlier in the year, with recent jobless claims hitting their lowest levels in almost seven years. A decisive move below 300k is both on the cards *and* likely to apply heavy downward pressure on the euro-dollar.
And so to Friday and we end the week in London with Retail Sales data for March at 8:30am. February’s data beat forecasts by more than a full percentage point, and Banc De Binary’s analysts are predicting another strong number on Friday that should lead to a basket of opportunities on the Sterling crosses, U.K. stocks and the FTSE100 share index.
That concludes our round-up of the key trading events for the 21st – 25th of April 2014.