-- Societe Generale in its early Thursday economic news summary pointed out:
-- Stocks scale new highs in the United States and Asia, Brent above US$96/barrel.
-- President Trump said the Iran war was very close to over; European Central Bank's Schnabel said there was no need to rush to raise rates, it can afford to take its time. Pricing for the April meeting dropped to 3bps; Bank of England's Bailey said the UK won't rush to judgments because there are a lot of uncertainties; U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said he is confident Kevin Warsh will be Federal Reserve chair on time.
-- China Q1 gross domestic product accelerated to 5.0% year over year from 4.5% in Q4, above forecast. March retail sales +1.7% year over year and FAI year-to-date (YTD) at 1.7% year over year underwhelmed, while industrial production (IP) came in +5.7% versus 5.3% forecast. Property investment YTD -11.2% year over year. USD/CNY steady at 6.8190.
-- United Kingdom February GDP growth 0.5% month over month, 0.5% three-month over/three-month, above forecast. BoE forecast 0.1% to 0.2% for Q1. Services 0.5%, manufacturing -0.1%, construction 1.0%. Trade deficit widens to 18.8 billion pounds, exports -1.5%, imports +3.2%.
Australia March employment +17,900, full-time 52,500, unemployment rate steady at 4.3%. AUD/USD +0.3% at 0.7195.
Day ahead: U.S. weekly jobless claims, IP, Philly Fed business outlook. Eurozone final consumer price index. ECB accounts of the March meeting. Federal Reserve speakers Miran, Williams. ECB's Kazaks, Schnabel, Rehn, Lane, Kocher, Radev, Villeroy, Nagel, Lane. BoE's Taylor. Reserve Bank of Australia's Hunter.
Nikkei +2.2%, EUR 10-year IRS -2bps at 3.05%, Brent crude flat at US$94.9/barrel, Gold +0.3% at $4,816/oz.