Notes from My Desk April 16th

By FXEmpire.com

Now and then when it is a slow news day, I share my notes with my readers, these are the notes of the day, collected from various sources. I just copy them down throughout the day, to remind me of the days events. They are not in a particular order, although they seem to move from market to market, with the US being the top and dropping to the Asian markets. Sometimes I group them by region, not consciously, but when I am copying them down, so that most everything about Spain or the EU are easy to spot. It is interesting to see how the news of the day occurred.

Retail sales in the U.S. rose sharply for the third straight month, up 0.8% in March, as consumers continued to splurge on a wide range of goods and services. The Empire State index for April dropped markedly to a reading of 6.56 from 20.21 in March. Economists had anticipated a reading of 18.0.

Home-builder sentiment dropped in April for the first time in seven months, as growing traffic at new-build sites hasn’t yet led to sales. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index dropped 3 points.

Business inventories rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in February to $1.58 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Economists had forecast a 0.5% gain. The increase was led once again by the auto sector.

Japanese power utilities consumed more crude oil, heavy fuel oil and liquefied natural gas last fiscal year ended March 31 as they boosted operations at thermal plants to make up for lost nuclear capacity, the Federation of Electric Power Companies

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, locked in a tough reelection fight, on Sunday said he would seek a debate on expanding the European Central Bank’s mandate to include efforts to support growth across the 17-nation single-currency area.

Jorg Asmussen, Germany’s representative on the European Central Bank’s six-member executive board, called on non-European members of the International Monetary Fund to put up more money for use by the IMF in crisis situations.

Britain is close to agreeing to a new ?10 billion commitment to the International Monetary Fund as the Bretton Woods institution seeks to double its war-chest at its spring meeting this week, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday,

A Spanish minister has urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to buy more bonds to slow the country’s sovereign debt crisis, amidst fears that Spain will be the next euro member in need of a bail-out.

Spanish and Italian government bonds saw renewed pressure Monday, pushing Spain’s 10-year yield above the psychologically important 6% level.

Spanish government bonds trimmed earlier losses, with the yield on the 10-year Spanish government bond slipping back below the 6% threshold after stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales data boosted global risk appetite.

The Spanish government could be poised to take over the financial dealings of some of its indebted regions, media reports said Monday, citing senior government officials.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday said the European Union’s executive arm remains confident Spain’s government can meet its economic challenges,

South Korea’s central bank cuts 2012 GDP growth, headline inflation forecasts, citing global slowdown — GDP likely to grow 3.5%, compared with earlier 3.7% forecast, inflation to rise 3.2% compared with 3.3%, Bank of Korea says — Private consumption to grow at slower

China’s March electricity consumption rose 7% from a year earlier to 416 billion kilowatt-hours, the National Energy Administration said Sunday. In the January-March period, consumption rose 6.8% to 1.1655 trillion kilowatt-hours, it said.

The Obama administration cautiously welcomes China’s move to expand the yuan’s trading band against the U.S. dollar, saying it could help to reduce global trade imbalances. China raised the official dollar-yuan central parity level on Monday, signaling a weaker local currency, after announcing over the weekend a decision to widen the pair’s trading range to 1% from 0.5%.

The value of personal finance issued in Australia fell 3.8% in February from January to A$7.19 billion after seasonal adjustments, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

Once again, tomorrow, I will start with the Asian markets and move around the globe. These notes are copied from many sources, I do not remember which came from where or who printed what, I hope the authors do not mind, I am not claiming these are original, quite the contrary.

Originally posted here