Turning off the taps

Today’s news headlines:

• ‘Eurozone’s two biggest economies sink into historic recessions’ – Economic growth in both Germany and France is likely to fall sharply because of the impact of the coronavirus crisis, leaving both economies in deep recession. According to the country’s top research institutes, growth in the German economy will fall by almost 10% in the three months to June. Meanwhile, France will experience 1.5 percentage points of negative growth for every two weeks that the economic shutdown continues. (Financial Times)

• ‘U.K. Reports Deadliest Day Yet With 938 New Coronavirus Deaths’ – UK deaths from the global pandemic increased again on Wednesday as scientists predict that the country will enter the peak of the outbreak during the coming week. The good news is that the rate of new hospitalisations is getting slower, flattening the curve to a degree, according to UK scientific adviser Angela McLean. (Bloomberg)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• Oil prices rose overnight following Russia’s announcement that they were prepared to cut output to help stabilise the market. The agenda of today’s virtual OPEC meeting will be a huge supply cut of 10 million barrels a day. Following a strong day for both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones, a slight shift to risk-off prevailed overnight as Gold rose alongside a fall in the US 10-year Treasury yield.

Today's events

UK GDP (Feb):  -0.1% versus 0.1% last month
UK Construction Output (Feb): -1.7% versus -0.2% last month
UK Industrial Production (Feb): 0.1% versus 0.2% last month
 
Italian Industrial Production (Feb): Due at 9am
ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts: Due at 12.30pm
US Initial Jobless Claims (Previous Week): Due at 1.30pm
Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment (Apr): Due at 3pm
Federal Reserve Chair Powell Speaks: 3pm
OPEC meeting: Taking place all day

Interbank rates:

GBPUSD: 1.2380

GBPEUR: 1.1415

EURUSD: 1.0845