Economic Indicators And Reports For The Last Day Of The Week, Month And Quarter.

By FXEmpire.com

These are the notes from my desk as the day passed ending with US markets and moving back to European markets and all the way back to Asia.

These are simply notes that I collected throughout the day from numerous sources.

Consumer sentiment in March reached the highest in more than a year, as consumers grew more confident about their current economic conditions.

The University of Michigan said the final reading for the consumer-sentiment gauge in March hit 76.2 — the highest since February 2011. Last month sentiment was at 75.3.

The Chicago PMI, or Chicago business barometer by its formal name, decelerated in March but marked its fifth straight month above 60%. The PMI fell to 62.2% in March from 64.0% in February,

Americans spent money in February at the fastest pace in seven months, but a good chunk of their cash went to pay for higher energy costs and incomes rose at a much slower clip, government data showed.

Personal spending jumped 0.8% in February as personal income edged up 0.2%, the Commerce Department said.

With income growth unable to keep up, the faster pace of spending in the first two months of 2012 pushed down the personal savings rate to 3.7% in February from 4.7% at the end of 2011. That’s the lowest savings rate since August 2009.

Euro-zone finance ministers meeting in Copenhagen on Friday agreed to temporarily boost the size of the firewall designed to contain the spread of the region’s debt crisis to 800 billion euros ($1.1 trillion) from a previously planned 500 billion euros.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Friday said she welcomed the decision by euro-zone finance ministers to temporarily boost the effective lending capacity of the region’s bailout funds to 700 billion euros

Spanish government bond prices added to gains Thursday, pushing down yields, after Spain announced 27 billion euros ($36 billion) of austerity cuts in its 2012 budget.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos on Friday said the country was working to ensure it won’t need a third bailout but said the potential need for further aid couldn’t be ruled out, news reports said. “Some form of financial assistance might be required.

France posted a 2011 budget deficit equal to 5.2% of gross domestic product, coming in under the government’s initial target of 5.7%, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reported.

Inflation in the 17-nation euro zone slowed to a 2.6% annual pace in March, down from 2.7% in February, the European Union statistical agency Eurostat released today.

China’s central bank said Friday it will maintain a reasonable expansion of social financing, a measure of overall new credit, as it pursues prudent monetary policies this year.

The People’s Bank of China said it will also ensure relatively fast and steady economic growth, while keeping overall prices stable.

The central bank’s statement, posted on the website of its Shanghai branch, repeated standard language on its policy stance and mentioned no specific targets.

Total social financing is a measure designed by the central bank and launched in the first quarter of 2011 to better gauge the supply of credit in the economy beyond the traditional measure of new yuan loans.

Speculation is growing that China will trim the ratio of cash that its lenders must keep in reserve to encourage credit growth, amid signs the world’s fastest-growing major economy is losing steam.

The RBA is expected to slash its cash rate by 73 basis points over the next 12 months, according to the Overnight Index Swap curve, narrowing the gap with New Zealand’s record low official cash rate of 2.5 per cent.

New Zealand’s central bank is seen lifting the OCR by 26 basis points in the next 12 months.

Fitch on Thursday cut its view on Japan’s 2012 economic growth outlook to 1.9% from its December forecast of 2.2% growth, citing statistical changes in base year calculations using national accounts.

Japan’s industrial output data for February offered a mixed picture Friday, with production down but expectations trending higher. Industrial production fell 1.2% last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The result was far below forecasts for a 1.3% gain.

Japanese data surprised to the upside Friday, as consumer prices rose, unemployment eased, and household spending increased more than expected. The February jobless rate slipped to 4.5% from January’s 4.6%, the Internal Affairs Ministry reported.

Originally posted here