The U.S. dollar is slightly stronger this morning, holding on to it’s gains from yesterday. Global equity markets look firmer to start the day after a minor bloodbath yesterday.
Overview
Geopolitics has again taken center stage. U.S. intelligence officials have claimed that China has grossly under reported Covid-19 related deaths. And President Trump warned that Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. interests. Neither event has dampened the risk-on mood this morning.
This morning’s economic data was also stark. Initial weekly jobless claims came in at whopping 6,648,000 for last week. The scary reading is more than double economists’ estimates of 3.1M. The severity of the print cannot be understated. If you exclude last week’s record, today’s reading is more than nine times more than the previous record for jobless claims in a week.
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EUR
The Euro remained under pressure, falling an additional 0.5% against its American rival overnight. The common currency experienced a sharp sell-off yesterday morning after ugly PMI data.
Today’s data kept with the global trend of poor employment data. Spain recorded a record high number of jobless claims in March. The Spanish Labor Ministry said claims rose by 302K in March, with the bulk of the losses coming in the service sector. Unemployment in Spain is already at 13.8, one of the highest in Europe.
CAD
The Canadian dollar was unable to hold much of its gains against the U.S. dollar despite the price of crude jumping by more than 12%. The main beneficiary of higher oil prices appears to be the Norwegian krone, which gained more than 1% versus the greenback. Oil has risen for three straight days with the overnight pop being attributed to news that China will being adding to its strategic reserve.
