14 Apr 2014
Further Italian weakness, EUR focussed on ECB stimulus speculation
FXStreet (London) - The morning has kicked off with more weak Italian data after a quiet Asian session.
Meagre Italian growth
Italian consumer price index inflation came in at 2.2 percent month-on-month in March, up slightly from consensus expectations of a 2.1 percent gain. However, year-on-year CPI inflation remains at just 0.3 percent.
IMF warning to Italy
The weak inflation data follows the International Monetary Fund’s warning to Italy over its soaring youth unemployment numbers. The IMF this weekend has warned that Italy needs to urgently reform its labour market. Youth joblessness in Italy currently stands at over 42 percent.
Asian markets were quiet overnight, with little in the way of macro data. The Nikkei trended lower, down a further 0.36 percent to 13,910.16 in some nervous and choppy trading.
AUD/USD remained mostly range-bound between USD0.9385-USD0.09410. NZD suffered steady declines, falling 0.47 percent to USD0.8647.
Eurozone industrial production data due at 10:00 GMT may see some upside on consensus expectations of a 1.5 percent gain month-on-month after broadly promising IP surveys from the Eurozone so far this month.
EZ focussed on ECB speculation
However, the biggest driver for the European session is going to be speculation over the form of any possible EUR stimulus measures followed by Friday’s comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Meagre Italian growth
Italian consumer price index inflation came in at 2.2 percent month-on-month in March, up slightly from consensus expectations of a 2.1 percent gain. However, year-on-year CPI inflation remains at just 0.3 percent.
IMF warning to Italy
The weak inflation data follows the International Monetary Fund’s warning to Italy over its soaring youth unemployment numbers. The IMF this weekend has warned that Italy needs to urgently reform its labour market. Youth joblessness in Italy currently stands at over 42 percent.
Asian markets were quiet overnight, with little in the way of macro data. The Nikkei trended lower, down a further 0.36 percent to 13,910.16 in some nervous and choppy trading.
AUD/USD remained mostly range-bound between USD0.9385-USD0.09410. NZD suffered steady declines, falling 0.47 percent to USD0.8647.
Eurozone industrial production data due at 10:00 GMT may see some upside on consensus expectations of a 1.5 percent gain month-on-month after broadly promising IP surveys from the Eurozone so far this month.
EZ focussed on ECB speculation
However, the biggest driver for the European session is going to be speculation over the form of any possible EUR stimulus measures followed by Friday’s comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.