Amid the doom and gloom that the coronavirus has brought, there is still economic data being published around the world.

The USD continues to weaken, allowing paired currencies to make some gains overnight. The EURUSD opened at $1.09054 and dipped to a low of $1.09000 in the first hour of trade. It bounced off the lows, marching up to a high of $1.09869 late in the day. It is not far off those highs and is now trading at $1.09802. The GBPUSD opened at a low of $1.24965 and made gradual gains early in the day before picking up momentum mid-session. Late trading saw the pound peak at $1.26475. It has come off those highs slightly and is now trading at $1.26136.

The Dow made some decent gains overnight, but it still looks in a precarious position due to the economic uncertainty that this global pandemic brings. The index started the day at 23,450.44 and slipped to lows of 23,367.98 early in the day. It rebounded from that point and rallied for most of the day, hitting highs of 24,035.11 late in the day. It has come off those highs and is currently trading at 23,885.00. The Dax opened at a low of 10,555.14 and quickly made gains in early-session trading. The German index peaked at 10,814.56 before giving up some of those gains in the dying hours of the day. It is now trading at 10,707.84.

The day ahead sees the focus remain on the US as it grapples with the health which is rapidly turning into a financial crisis as well. The US will be publishing Retail & Core Retail Sales data later tonight in what markets will look and wonder, “just how bad is it”? Markets are getting a clearer picture of the impacts of this virus as countries shut themselves down. Retail Sales are predicted to tumble 8% (vs a contraction of 0.5% last month), while the Core Retail figure is expected to be down 4.9% (vs a dip of 0.4% at last reading). In among all this, many of the biggest corporations in the US are releasing much anticipated earnings data.

Other data published today includes:

Europe – French Final CPI

Canada – Overnight Rate, BoC Rate Statement, Monetary Policy Report and Press Conference

US – Empire State manufacturing Index, Capacity Utilisation Rate, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, NAHB Housing Market Index, Crude Oil Inventories, Beige Book, TIC Long-Term Purchases

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