Themes

· General mood is “risk off”

· Euro tracking the results of the French elections

· Chinese data hotter than expected

What’s Moving

The Euro opened slightly firmer in Asia this morning, with players eyeing results of the French election, which at this time, has current President Macron in front. The upside was short lived however and late morning trade saw some Dollar buying, with best gain seen against the Yen and the Swiss Franc.

Chinese data printed hotter than expected, with CPI coming in at 1.5% (from talk of 1.3%) and PPI printing at 8.3% from talk of 8.1%. This data had little major impact but did coincide with weakness on the AUD and NZD. Talk was that this Dollar strength was due to higher U.S. 10-year yields.

Tonight, expect French election results to dominate interest in European trade. With no major data out of the U.S., currencies are expected to continue to be led by U.S. interest rates.

Data and events tonight see:

· U.K. GDP (E: +0.2%)

· FOMC Member Bowman is also slated to speak