MNI Global Morning Briefing

     LONDON (MNI) - The calendar is starting early on the Thursday, at 0600GMT,

as final German GDP and Gfk consumer climate cross the wires. Final Germany GDP

is not expected to change from its prior q/q growth of 0.3%. The same can be

said for the Gfk consumer climate survey which is expected to post the same

score as it previously did of 10.8.

     Next up is France with their business climate indicator and manufacturing

and services sentiment at 0645GMT. The business climate indicator was previously

at 108.0, in the middle of manufacturing at 109.0 and services at 107.0.

     Moving to Spain at 0700GMT is the industrial orders and services survey.

Industrial orders previously had y/y growth of 3.2%, much lower than the

services survey exhibiting growth of 6.4%.

     Two speeches at 0815GMT and 0830GMT are next, with the first speech by the

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley speaking in London. The

second speech is ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet speaking at the 2018 IIF

Spring Meeting in Brussels.

     The UK continues its busy data week with retail sales at 0830GMT. The

previous month showed a fall in retail sales m/m by 1.2% and excluding fuel saw

a decline of 0.5%. Analysts are anticipating a bounce back in April with the m/m

figure estimated at 0.9% and 0% excluding fuels.

     At 1030GMT, ECB Executive Board Member Peter Praet speaking for the second

time today at the IIF in Brussels.

     RBA Assistant Governor Michele Bullock speaks in Amsterdam at 1200GMT.

     The level of US initial jobless claims (1230GMT) is expected to remain

unchanged after rising to 222,000 in the previous week.

     The BNB Business Sentiment at 1300GMT may gain some more traction than in

previous years due to it falling before the Ifo survey in Germany. It has tended

to be a good indicator for the health of the Euro Area economy. Previously, the

sentiment index value was at 1.0.

     The pace of existing home sales (1400GMT) is expected to fall to a 5.58

annual rate in April after gains in the previous two months. Pending home sales

rose by 0.4% in March after rising sharply in February, a small positive factor

for existing home sales. Supply of homes for sale remains extremely low, keeping

prices elevated.

     Japan finish off the calendar at 2330GMT with their CPI data. As has been

the case with most of the data, analysts again expect an unchanged figure from

the prior 0.6% y/y.

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