GBP

Early in the trading day on Friday we had a number of figures released in the
UK.The UK deficit of trade in goods and services was £1.3 bn in March 2014,
compared with a deficit of £1.7 billion in February 2014.  Manufacturing
output which accounts for around 10% of the economy also grew 1.4% in the first
three months of 2014 this is way above expectations and the best quarter since

GBP

Early in the trading day on Friday we had a number of figures released in the
UK.The UK deficit of trade in goods and services was £1.3 bn in March 2014,
compared with a deficit of £1.7 billion in February 2014.  Manufacturing
output which accounts for around 10% of the economy also grew 1.4% in the first
three months of 2014 this is way above expectations and the best quarter since
1999. Total production, which includes mining, quarrying and manufacturing,
fell 0.1% on the previous quarter. This headline figure caused a sell off of
Sterling and some profit taking after the strong rally over the last couple of
weeks.

Later on during Friday’s trading the National Institute of Economic and Social
Research believes that the recovery in the UK economy is continuing, releasing
their Q1 GDP growth estimate at 1%, above market analysts’ expectations of 0.9%
growth.

CAD 

The Canadian dollar weakened the most in seven weeks after employment
unexpectedly declined for the second time in three months in April, boosting
bets the Bank of Canada may lower interest rates to support economic growth.
 The currency dropped from almost the strongest level against the U.S.
dollar in four months as employment fell by 28,900 in April and the
participation rate declined to the lowest in more than 12 years

EUR

Inflation in Greece continues to fall at a steady pace, as wage cuts and unemployment
take their toll. Data showed that prices were down 1.6% in April 2014 compared
to April 2013. However some more positive news for Europe as Portugal’s
unemployment rate has fallen for the fourth successive quarter Official data
showed that the jobless rate was 15.1% in March, down from 17.5% a year
earlier.

This week the focus will be on inflation figures. On Wednesday  Mark
Carney delivers his quarterly inflation report, which should give investors a
clearer indication of when the Bank of England will look at raising interest
rates.Then on Thursday the Eurozone will announce their inflation figures for
April, if inflation figures continue to disappoint this may force the ECB to
take action to bring inflation up to the 2% target level.

Key Announcements:

18:00 – USD – The US Government releases their monthly budget statement.