Wall Street indices trade lower today after a slump triggered by hawkish US inflation data. S&P 500 and Nasdaq drop 1%, Dow Jones trades 1.2% lower and small-cap Russell 2000 slumps 3%
FOMC minutes showed that Fed members are concerned about persistance of inflation and that recent data did not add confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2% target
US CPI inflation accelerated from 3.2 to 3.5% YoY in March (exp. 3.4% YoY), while core measure stayed unchanged at 3.8% YoY (exp. 3.7% YoY). On month-over-month basis both measures increased 0.4% MoM, while markets expected 0.3% MoM
As this was the third hawkish surprise in CPI data since the beginning of the year, a strong hawkish reaction could be spotted on the markets, with USD gaining and equities plunging
Oil prices jumped on Middle East tensions. According to Bloomberg report, US sees a retaliation missile strike on Israel by Iran and its proxies as imminent
European stock market indices traded mixed today - French CAC40 dropped 0.05%, German DAX gained 0.11%, UK FTSE 100 moved 0.33% higher, Dutch AEX jumped 0.64% and Spanish Ibex dropped 0.38%
Cryptocurrencies traded lower today, although major coins managed to avoid big slumps. Bitcoin traded flat, Ethereum dropped 0.3% and Ripple moved 1.6% lower
USD and JPY are the best performing currencies while AUD and NZD lag the most
Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged at the sixth meeting in a row, in-line with market expectations. CAD gained, however, as the bank boosted GDP forecast as well as neutral rate range forecast
CAD erased post-decision gains after BoC Governor Macklem said during press conference that June remains one of possibilities for timing of the first rate cut
NZD gained after Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rate unchanged, in-line with market expectations. However, RBNZ noted in a statement that rates will need to remain at restrictive level for a sustained period to ensure return of inflation to 1-3% target range
Fed Barkin said that he thinks a lot of progress on inflation is being made
DOE report pointed to a big 5.84 million barrel build in headline crude oil inventories (exp. 2.4 mb), gasoline inventories increased by 0.72 mb (exp. -1.3 mb) and distillate inventories increased by 1.66 mb (exp. -1.2 mb)
Canadian building permits surged 9.3% MoM in February (exp. -4.2% MoM)
Italian retail sales increased 0.1% MoM in February (exp. 0.2% MoM)