American focus: the euro fluctuates

The yen fell against most major currencies against the measures taken to mitigate the monetary policies adopted by the Bank of Japan, which continue to put pressure on the Japanese yen. Today begins a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors G20. This is the first meeting since then, such as Japan, the third largest economy in the world, has activated a program to combat deflation. Japan is preparing to respond to criticism from foreign colleagues. Also today, the data released in Japan on the deficit of the trade balance. In March, 2013. the figure was $ 3.7 billion, which is almost two times less than in February of this year. However, the March trade deficit means that the level of imports in Japan than exports ninth month in a row, which is the longest period since 1980. For the year exports to the U.S. increased by 7%, while in China, by contrast, fell by 2.5%. It is worth noting that experts suggest that the level of Japanese exports will increase in the coming months due to the devaluation of the yen against the background of large-scale injections into the economy by the Bank of Japan.

The euro exchange rate fluctuates against the dollar on the ambiguous statistics and numerous comments by officials. Rumors that Societe Generale has suffered heavy losses, caused panic in the financial markets. After the denial of problems SocGen, the euro / dollar has formed a wedge, stopping at 1.3096 and extending the maximum daily range.

According to the report, which was published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, business activity among manufacturers Philadelphia region declined this month, but still remained in expansion. The data showed that the value of the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index fell in April to the level of 1.3, compared with the February index at the level of 2.0. Note that this drop was a big surprise to many economists, since according to them the average forecast the figure would rise to the level of 3.1.

As the results of recent studies that have been presented today Conference Board, the index of leading economic indicators fell unexpectedly last month as the economic outlook worsened among consumers. According to the report, in March the index of leading indicators fell 0.1%, compared with unedited growth of 0.5% in February. Note that the last time the index of leading indicators showed a decline in August 2012.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the G20 continues, and the head of the Bank of Canada's Carney (soon to become head of the Bank of England) agreed with the head of the IMF's Lagarde on the fact that the U.S. is no longer part of the group of crisis economies. He also talked about the program with Cyprus, noting that in principle not against the participation of investors.

On Friday, investors will focus on producer prices in Germany and the euro area current account balance. Next will come industrial sales / orders of Italy and Spain's trade balance. G20 summit ends tomorrow, and the weekend will be a meeting IMF.

The pound fell to a one-month low against the euro after the data from the Office for National Statistics showed that by the end of last month, the volume of retail sales in the UK fell markedly, which is evidence of pressure on the finances of consumers, which jeopardizes the prospects for sustainable, long-term economic recovery. In addition, it was reported that the volume of sales, however, increased in the first quarter of this year, thanks to strong performance in February and no increase store sales. Economists point out that these data support the tentative signs that the UK can avoid a return to recession for the third time in five years. According to the report, in March retail sales fell by 0.7% compared to February and were up 0.5% compared with the same month a year earlier. Note that according to the average estimate of experts, the value of this index was reduced by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, it was reported that the annual sales for the previous month was revised down to 2.5% growth, compared to the initial estimate of 2.6% increase.