Raft of poor PMIs sink single currency -The...>

FOREX: Raft of poor PMIs sink single currency

-The ECB's apparent confidence of a turnaround in economic fortunes in H2

certainly wasn't apparent in this morning's PMI data, with manufacturing numbers

in France and Germany disappointing (although services was more favourable).

EUR/USD sank on release, showing below the $1.1250 level to hit the week's lows

of $1.1243.

-GBP fared slightly better, but GBP/USD remains negative following strong retail

sales numbers for March. The better data was put down to mild weather this year

contrasting with a particularly March in 2018. JPY sits at the top of ther 

-Scandi FX sits at the bottom of the G10 table so far Thursday, with poor

Swedish unemployment numbers the culprit, which rose 7.1% vs. Exp. 6.6%. EUR/SEK

broke above the 50-dma at 10.4905 on react.

-Canadian and US retail sales are next up, with weekly jobless claims and Philly

Fed business outlook also on the docket. Earnings due today include American

Express, Honeywell, Union Pacific and Philip Morris. Fed's Bostic is due to

speak just ahead of the early US close at 1300EDT/1800BST.