Volatility at a 24-year low

• AUD - Annual Budget Release
• CAD - Building Permits m/m: -5.8%
• USD - FOMC Member Kaplan Speaks

Market news was relatively quiet yesterday and movement remained tentative ahead of the Bank of England rate vote and quarterly inflation report scheduled for this Thursday. Volatility replicated that, with the VIX index (a measure of market volatility) closing below 10, its lowest level since 1993. This comes after the French election result, where markets correctly predicted a Macron victory. Volatility has continued to fall after this potential source of global uncertainty was settled.

The US released another piece of key labour data yesterday. The JOLTS Job Openings continued the bullish labour market trend of late, exceeding expectations and posting a 5.74M. The uptick in job openings can be accredited to an increase in professional and business services. However, educational services, mining and logging decreased, capping the decent number.

The quits rates, which is those who voluntarily leave their jobs, remained at 2.1% from last month, down from 2.2% in January. The bullish readings of the JOLTS report follow on from the positive jobs trend seen in the US by non-farm payroll and unemployment data last week. The readings for the number of job openings have been higher than expected consistently throughout the first quarter of this year. 

• EUR - ECB President Draghi Speaks
• USD - Crude Oil Inventories
• NZD - Official Cash Rate 

Price action is expected to pick up today as we have a raft of high tier economic data scheduled for release. Firstly, ECB President Mario Draghi will be speaking about the impact of monetary policy at the Dutch House of Representative, in Netherlands. Anything untoward here could inject volatility into the Euro. Shortly after, the US release their crude oil inventories and New Zealand announce their latest interest rate decision.