- Gold soars to fresh record at $1569.25
- US personal income rises 0.5% in March, spending up 0.6%
- Core PCE rises 0.9% year-over year
- US employment cost index rises 0.6% in Q1
- Chicago PMI dips to 67.6 from 70.6
- University of Michigan consumer sentiment 69.8 final in April from 69.6 preliminary
- EU: European banking sector needs substantial restructuring before can be called healthy
- Ireland cuts 2011 GDP forecast to +0.8% from 1.7%
- US 10-year note falls 2.5 bp to 3.285%; lowest since March 26
- Oil rises $0.80 to 113.67
EUR/USD decoupled from commodities today failing to follow gold as it rallied about $25 late in the trading day. EUR ends the session at 1.4809, it’s low for the day, after reaching 1.4878 first thing this morning.
GBP/USD made a strong showing today, spurred by the enchanting tale of a prince and princess. We popped as high as 1.6722 in early afternoon trade. EUR/GBP fell after month-end requirements were finished at today’s fixings.
AUD/USD and CAD both performed strongly, buoyed by gains in gold. Silver ended up lower on the day and copper was quite weak, but never mind all that and just close your eyes and buy.
USD/CHF ended off its lows but fell to a fresh all-time low at 0.8622 before ending at 0.8655. Moderately hawkish talk from the SNB’s Hildebrand along with a continued crackdown by the Iranian-backed Syrian government against protestors helped underpin the franc.
