Financial Markets on Pause Ahead of Barr Testimony and Amid Only a Few Data Reports
March 28, 2023
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Banking Oversight Michael Barr will be testifying at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) before the House Banking Committee on recent bank failures and the regulatory response.
Meantime, yesterday’s recovery of banking stocks proved shortlived, and overall equity market indices are holding pretty flat in Europe and U.S. futures trading. In the Pacific Rim, stock markets closed up 1.1% in Hong Kong and South Korea and 1.0% higher in Australia but down by 0.8% in Taiwan, 0.2% in China and 0.1% in India and just 0.2% higher in Japan.
Ten-year sovereign debt yields rebounded 12 basis points in Italy, 11 bps in the U.K., 10 bps in Spain,9 basis points in Germany and France, 4 bps in the United States and a single basis point in Japan. The prices of gold and oil edged up 0.2%, but that of bitcoin tokens fell 0.9%.
The dollar, too, has slid somewhat, dropping overnight by 0.6% against the kiwi, 0.4% relative to the yen and Australian dollar, 0.3% versus the euro and Mexican peso, and 0.2% against sterling. There’s been no net change in the Canadian dollar.
Today’s U.S. data menu includes the Case-Shiller and FHFA house price indices, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge, the Richmond Fed manufacturing survey, and a preliminary estimate of the merchandise trade deficit. Only a couple of economic indicators were reported in other countries today. The National Bank of Hungary is conducting a scheduled review of interest rate policy but hasn’t announced its decision as yet.
Italian consumer confidence improved to a 13-month high in March of 105.1, representing a 15-index point recovery from last October’s 125-month low. The confidence of manufacturers rose to an 8-month high this month of 104.2 from 103.0 in February and a 21-month low of 100.7 last October.
French business confidence dipped in March to 0.4 point below February’s 6-month high. Sector breakdowns showed a 4-month low in retail and trade, a 3-month low in services, a 22-month low in construction, and a 2-month low among manufacturers. Labor market confidence slipped to a four-month low.
Icelandic CPI inflation fell back to a 3-month low of 9.8% in March from February’s 161-month high of 10.2%. Core inflation edged down 0.1 percentage point to a 2-month low of 9.4%.
Irish retail sales in February posted their largest year-on-year advance (3.6%) in ten month.
Hungary in 4Q 2022 experienced a seventh consecutive current account deficit last quarter equal to EUR 4.336 billion compared to EUR 3.298 billion a year earlier. The deficit almost doubled to EUR 13.72 billion in 2022.
Copyright 2023, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: French and Italian business confidence, Michael Barr senate testimony
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