PMIs recover some ground

The euro is a little weaker against the dollar this morning, trading at close to $1.09 from almost $1.10 this time yesterday, as is sterling which has dipped below the $1.22 level, which leaves the pound trading at around 89.5p to the single currency. Both European and US equities closed lower yesterday, and stocks in Asia lost ground overnight, which in turn has seen core bond yields edge down

The Composite PMIs for the UK and the Euro area both recovered some ground this month according to the flash readings published yesterday, but they remained well below the 50 expansion-contraction threshold so pointing to a continuing but nevertheless slowing pace of decline in activity (reflecting some opening up of the respective economies recently )

The volume of retail sales in the UK fell by the most on record in April, plunging by 18.1% from March and by more than 22% on April 2019, which in turn will contribute to what is likely to have been a further sharp drop in GDP last month (following a decline of almost 6% in March)

The number of new jobless claimants in the US rose by a further 2.4 million last week, less than the increase recorded the previous week but still pointing to a continuing rise in the unemployment rate (which reached almost 15% in April)

It is very quiet on the data front today with little in the way of important releases scheduled