Summary:

  • UK retail sales data expected to show further deterioration

  • Will ECB Minutes help euro recover?

  • Vast array of central bankers’ speeches during the day

Super Wednesday is already behind us but that does not mean the week is over! Both EUR and GBP traders will find some top-tier data and events in Thursday’s calendar. After yesterday’s FOMC Minutes hurt the greenback a little ECB will release its account from the latest monetary policy meeting in the early afternoon. Earlier, retail sales data from the UK economy is going to be published. Moreover, additional volatility may be spurred on the GBP pairs ahead of the reading as BoE Governor Mark Carney is going to deliver speech at BoE Markets Forum.

9:30 am BST – UK, Retail Sales for April. The latest CPI inflation figures seem to lag behind PPI measure indicating that producer’s are unable to pass higher costs onto consumers. This may mean that demand in the UK economy is weakening. Three latest retail sales readings seem to confirm this as they showed continuous deterioration. Market consensus suggests that April’s reading will show significant drop from 1.1% YoY to 0.1% YoY.

12:30 pm BST – ECB Minutes. The continuous deterioration of soft indicators starts to be worrying. Just as ECB is slowly preparing markets for the end of asset purchase programme economy starts to saw signs of exhaustion. Yesterday’s data of course will not be recognized in report but document may offer some insight into the moods of the ECB members.

Central bank speakers scheduled for today:

9:00 am BST – BoE’s Carney and Fed’s Dudley

9:15 am BST – Fed’s Kashkari

9:30 am BST – ECB’s Praet

11:30 am BST – ECB’s Praet

3:35 pm BST – Fed’s Bostic

4:00 pm BST – Fed’s Kaplan

7:00 pm BST – Fed’s Harker

7:00 pm BST – BoE Governor Carney

link do file download linkEURGBP has been consolidating since September 2017. The pair show weakness as of late failing to reach the upper limit of the trading range. Investors should stay cautious as price stay just a notch above the support zone that serves as a lower limit of the consolidation. Source: xStation5