High Volume of Data Releases and Fed Chairman Powell’s Speech Put US in Focus

German Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey (Mar) was 10.8 v an expected 10.9, from a prior number of 11.0. French Consumer Price Index (EU norm) (YoY) (Feb) was 1.4% v an expected 1.5%, from a prior number of 1.5%. EURUSD moved lower from 1.22370 to a low of 1.22000. Swiss KOF Leading Indicator (Feb) was 108.0 v an expected 106.1, from 106.9 previously. German Unemployment Change (Feb) was -22K v an expected -15K, from -25K previously. Unemployment Rate s.a. (Feb) was as expected, unchanged at 5.4. EURUSD moved higher from 1.21983 to 1.22250 after this data was released. Swiss ZEW Survey – Expectations (Feb) data was released at 25.8 from 34.5 previously. Eurozone Consumer Price Index – Core (YoY) (Feb) was 1.0% v an expected 1.1%, from 1.0% prior. Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Feb) was as expected at 1.2%, from 1.3% previously. US Gross Domestic Product Annualized (Q4) was as expected at 2.5%, from 2.6% previously. Gross Domestic Product Price Index (Q4) was 2.3% v an expected 2.4%, from 2.4% previously. Personal Consumption Expenditures Prices (QoQ) (Q4) was 2.7% v an expected 2.8%, from 1.5% previously, which was revised up to 2.8%. Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Prices (QoQ) (Q4) was as expected at 1.9%, from 1.3% previously, which was revised up to 1.9%. EURUSD fell to a low of 1.22021 before moving higher to 1.22278 as a result of this data. US Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (Feb) was 61.9 v an expected 64.2, from a prior reading of 65.7. US Pending Home Sales (YoY) (Jan) was -1.7% v an expected -1.8%, from a prior reading of -1.8%. Pending Home Sales (MoM) (Dec) was -4.7% v an expected 0.3%, from a prior reading of 0.5%. Australian AIG Manufacturing Index was released, coming in at 57.5 against 58.7 previously. AUDNZD moved up from 1.07594 to 1.07748 as a result of this data. Foreign Investment in Japanese Stocks (Feb 23) was ¥-53.6B from a previous number of ¥-127.1B, which was revised up to ¥-127.2B. Foreign Bond Investment (Feb 23) was ¥-201.3B from ¥-553.1B previously. The report is released by the Ministry of Finance, detailing the flows from the public sector excluding the Bank of Japan. The net data shows the difference of capital inflow and outflow. A positive difference indicates net sales of foreign securities by residents (capital inflow), and a negative difference indicates net purchases of foreign securities by residents (capital outflow). EURUSD is up 0.10% overnight, trading around 1.22055. USDJPY is up 0.08% in early session trading at around 106.744. GBPUSD is up 0.06% this morning, trading around 1.37681. Gold is down -0.30% in early morning trading at around $1,314.10. WTI is up 0.23% this morning, trading around $61.65. Major data releases for today: At 08:00 GMT, Polish Purchasing Manager Index (Feb) is expected to be 54.1 from 54.6 previously. At 08:15 GMT, Swiss Real Retail Sales (Jan) is expected to be 1.1% from 0.6% previously. At 08:55 GMT, German Markit Manufacturing PMI (Feb) is expected to be unchanged at 60.3. EUR …