MNI Global Morning Briefing

     LONDON (MNI) - There's more to report on Thursday than its previous day but

data still remains relatively weak in terms of volume.

     Commencing in France at 0645GMT is the March's HICP and CPI results.

February's m/m growth was at 1.1% compared to its y/y figure of 1.7%.

     Moving to the UK sees the BOE Quarterly Credit Conditions release at

0830GMT. Previous figures all saw positive or flat growth except for small

business/household unsecured lending which saw a negative index figure of 12.4.

     Shortly after this the Euro Area Industrial Production figures for February

at 0900GMT. After previous m/m and y/y wda figures in January of -1.0% and 2.7%

respectively, m/m growth in February is expected to show a slight rebound with

analysts pencilling in 0.2% growth.

     The US start the afternoon off with a double release at 1230GMT of Initial

Jobless Claims and Import and Export price index figures.

     The level of initial jobless claims is expected to fall by 12,000 to

230,000 in the April 7 week after a 24,000 increase in the previous week. The

four-week moving average would rise by 1,000 in the coming week, as the 226,000

level in the March 10 week drops out of the calculation, assuming the MNI

forecast is correct and there are no revisions.

     The March imports price index is expected to drop 3 pp from 0.4% growth

previously to 0.1%. Whilst the prior February exports price index came in at

0.2%.

     Also at 1230GMT is Canada's New Housing Price Index for February. Previous

growth in January was at 3.2%.

     China will release at some point on Thursday, April data for Money Supply,

New Loans and Total Social Financing figures. The M2 ytd y/y previously was at

8.8%, new loans stood at CNY839.3 billion and total social financing was at

CNY1.17 trillion.

     At 0130GMT is the RBA with their Financial Stability Review in Australia.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com