Summary:
- US GDP comes in better than expected
- UK growth falls sharply; GBPUSD hits 7-week low
- Uni Mich beats forecasts as stocks look to end the week higher
- Binance earns more than the biggest German lender
- Active bank recommendations
The world’s largest economy continues to experience a pleasing level of growth according to the latest data, with US GDP for the first quarter coming in at 2.3%. Whilst the print is lower than the 2.9% seen last time out, this was at the same time revised up from 2.6% and therefore may be a bit better than it first looks. Furthermore, with consensus forecasts calling for a 2.0% print it is no doubt pleasing and a positive data point.
It was a different story on this side of the Atlantic however with growth during the first three months of the year rising at the slowest pace since mid-2012. In effect, the British currency took a hit along with the probability of a rate hike next month even as the sluggish GDP growth could have been predicted given the latest streak of sub-par macroeconomic readings.
Not as widely viewed as the GDP figure, but potentially important to note nonetheless, the revised University of Michigan consumer sentiment index beat expectations to come in at 98.8. Compared to the expected 98.0 the reading represents a decent beat, with the prior reading being 97.8. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster week for the US stock market with large declines seen on Tuesday, but as we head into the weekend the US500 looks set to end little changed.
Crypto markets have recovered fairly well after the large declines seen earlier this week with Bitcoin trading back above the 9000 mark as we look to Friday’s close. A timely reminder about how fast this space has grown in recent years was provided earlier as Binance the international multi-language cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017, recording a higher level of profit than Deutsche Bank. The cryptocurrency company recorded as much as a $200 million net profit for the first quarter.
The latest list of active recommendations from the big banks can be found here.