Market Update

The preliminary estimate of the University of Michigan’s (UoM) Consumer Sentiment Index for April rose to 65.7 from 59.4 last month, above the expected reading of 59.0, data released on Thursday showed. The Consumer Expectations Index was also significantly stronger than expected at 64.1 versus forecasts for a reading of …

The GBP/USD pair has dipped back under 1.3100 as it weakens in tandem with the euro post-dovish ECB policy announcement. The pair remains at risk of falling to sub-1.3000 levels amid the risk of more BoE/Fed policy divergence.Though the currency hasn’t been weighed as badly as its euro counterpart, the …

The USD/CAD pair staged a goodish intraday bounce from over a one-week low set earlier this Thursday. Weaker oil prices undermined the CAD and extended support amid resurgent USD demand. Bulls seemed rather unaffected by the disappointing release of the US Retail Sales figures.The USD/CAD pair recovered nearly 70 pips …

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that the IMF will be downgrading the outlook for global growth for both 2022 and 2023, reported Reuters. She cited inflation, tightening of financial conditions and frequent Covid-19 lockdowns in China as weighing on activity. Additional Takeaways:• Since the …

There were 185,000 initial jobless claims in the US on the week ending on 9 April, the latest report from the US Depart of Labour showed on Thursday. That was a little above expectation for a rise to 171,000 from 167,000 one week prior. The four-week average number of initial …

Gold prices fell on Thursday but were still on track to record a weekly increase, supported by the demand for safe havens due to the Ukraine crisis and mounting price pressures. By 1100 GMT, gold fell in spot transactions 0.2 percent to $ 1973.41 an ounce, after rising for six …

The European Central Bank left its benchmark deposit rate unchanged at -0.50% on Thursday as unanimously expected by analysts. The central bank also reiterated its guidance that net asset purchases (Quantitative Easing or QE) should end in Q3. to be updated

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey left its benchmark interest rate, the one-week repo rate, unchanged at 14.00% on Thursday, as market participants had been expecting. The CBRT’s decision to hold interest rates comes despite the headline rate of Consumer Price (CPI) Inflation in Turkey surging above 60% …

A regulatory filing on Thursday said billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for $41.39 billion. Musk’s bid of $54.20 per share represents a 38 percent premium to Twitter’s closing price on April 1, which was the last trading day before the Tesla CEO announced his investment in more …

Standard Chartered Bank said on Thursday it will scale back its activities in Africa and the Middle East, as it seeks to cut costs and focus on more profitable markets. The bank will fully exit from Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. It will also halt its …