The Euro currency fell sharply on the day following the ECB’s monetary policy meeting. The central bank announced the launch of TLTRO program starting September with two-year maturity. The central bank also gave a dovish forward guidance with lower growth forecasts.
The ECB cut Eurozone’s growth to 1.1% for 2019. This was a lower projection after December’s estimates of 1.7%. The central bank left interest rates steady.
The final employment change for the fourth quarter was seen at 0.3% for the Eurozone, with no revisions from the previous estimates. Final GDP held steady at 0.2% for the three months ending December 2018.
In the NY trading session, Canada’s building permits fell 5.5% on the month, missing estimates of a 4.8% decline and weakening from 6.4% increase previously.
U.S. productivity grew 1.9% at the end of last year, beating estimates of a 1.8% increase. Productivity was seen averaging 1.3% since 2007 until last year. Annual unit labor costs rose 2.0% in the fourth quarter.
The overnight trading session saw New Zealand’s manufacturing sales report coming out. Data showed that for the fourth quarter of 2018, manufacturing sales fell 0.5%, following a downward revised print of 1.8% for the third quarter of 2018.
Earlier today, Japan’s revised GDP reports were released. Data showed that the fourth quarter GDP rose 0.5%, slightly up from a 0.4% increase that was estimated previously. The fourth quarter GDP increased from 0.3% in the third quarter.
The European trading session will kick off with Germany’s factory orders report. Data is expected to show that factory orders rose 0.5%, after falling 1.6% the month before. Industrial production figures from France and Italy are due later in the day.
The NY trading session will see the release of Canada’s employment report. Canada is forecast to add 0.3k jobs in February while the unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 5.8%. The U.S payrolls report is due later.
Economists expect headline payrolls to rise 181k in February, following a 304k increase in January. The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.9% from 4.0% previously while the average hourly earnings could rise 0.3% during the month in February.
Later in the day, building permits and housing starts data will be coming out.
