Euro lower post ECB

The euro lost ground against the dollar following yesterday’s ECB meeting, falling to an intra-day low of just under $1.23. Sterling was also a little firmer against the single currency at around 89p

The ECB revised up its forecast for GDP growth this year a touch to 2.4%, but kept its projection for inflation unchanged at 1.4% and lowered 2019 to 1.4% as well. As both are well below the inflation target, Mario Draghi indicated that the ECB is in no hurry to  ease up on the substantial monetary stimulus it its providing to the economy.

Bond yields in Europe also fell post the ECB, with German 10-year yields closing the day at around 0.63% (which leaves them some 15bps off their 2018 to date highs they set in early February)

Donald Trump has given the go-ahead for tariffs on steel/aluminium imports to the US, though Canada and Mexico have been exempted (and there is some scope for other countries to seek exemption), while it has also been announced that Trump has agreed to meet the North Korean leader at a time and place to be decided

The key data release today is the US employment report for February. Job gains of 200k are expected according to the consensus, while the unemployment rate is expected to fall to 4% (from 4.1% in January) and annual earnings growth forecast to dip to 2.8% (from 2.9%). Other data due includes  industrial production in the UK