quiet session yesterday.

It was another quiet session yesterday with risk sentiment being slightly choppy. Retail sales were slightly below consensus at 0.4% and the beige book noted the economy is expanding with widespread gains in February and March.

Belgium Central Bank Governor Coene said that "Trichet gave a signal that the ECB hike was not a one-off" and it should "not be seen as a totally isolated decision". These comments to some extent go against what Trichet said in the last meeting when he implied it wasn't the start of a tightening cycle and rate expectations continue to support the euro.

UK employment data was mixed with claims rising by 700 but the ILO unemployment rate ticked down to 7.8%.

RBA Governor Stevens did not deviate from his neutral stance as a lot of his comments focused on economic developments outside of Australia. He said it is risky to keep the price of money very low for a very long time and suggested that EM countries that are concerned with capital flows could let their exchange rates move. Stevens also said it is "highly unlikely" that Australia would adopt capital controls.

Data Today

ECB publises April monthly report – 8am GMT

US Initial Jobless Claims – 12.30pm GMT

US PPI – 12.30pm GMT

Happy Trading!

FxTaurian