Euro advances

The euro has gained some ground against both the dollar and sterling, rising by almost a cent and a penny respectively to trade at just under $1.19 and at 86p this morning. The pound has slipped against the US currency, shedding around a cent to $1.38

Core bond yields have edged down further. US 10-year yields at 1.64% are now a cumulative 10bps or so off last week’s highs while equivalent German yields are down 5bps at -0.33%. Meanwhile, European and US equity markets both ended largely unchanged yesterday

The IMF has revised up its forecasts for world economic growth this year and next with global GDP now expected to increase by 6.0% and 4.4% respectively. This follows a contraction in the global economy of 3.3% last year, which the IMF says would have been considerably larger in the absence of policy supports

The unemployment rate in the Euro Area held at 8.3% in February according to data published yesterday. This is up slightly from the end of last year (8.2%) and is about 1% point higher than before the pandemic

Data due today includes services PMIs in the Euro Area and UK, while the Fed publishes the minutes of last month’s monetary policy meeting