ECB and BoE leave monetary policy unchanged!

•  Thursdays trading was an exciting one as most majors oscillated within large ranges giving day traders plenty of good risk/reward opportunities. The main piece of financial data out of the US calendar yesterday was the weekly unemployment claims which came in at 460K for the week indicating the improving trend in employment figures and increasing the markets confidence in a sustainable recovery. US stock markets initially were sold on risk aversion fears spilling over from the EU Greek problem however as the session went on Stocks reversed their losses and closed+0.27% on hopes the retail sector in the US is gathering momentum, the DJIA is retesting the 11,000 psychological level once again and a break above this level can only help increase overall market sentiment. 2 year US yields also traded higher to 1.08% on rate hike expectations. The USDJPY traded between 92.81 - 93.51.
•  In Europe the main focus was on the ECB rate decisions and the ensuing press conference. The market was more interested in listening to Trichet's comments on Greece rather than actual ECB monetary policy. When asked on the likely hood of a Greek default Trichet replied that he does not foresee such an occurrence. The EURUUSD subsequently rallied back up to 1.3381 from 1.3279.
•  In the UK we had the BoE monetary policy as well and as expected no change in monetary policy was announced, rates remained at 0.5% and QE was left unchanged at GBP 200 bln. Industrial orders were good in the UK coming in at 1% and manufacturing production gained 1.3% for the month. The GBP subsequently rallied back up to 1.5300 from lows of 1.5140.

 Currency to watch out for: EURUSD & USDJPY

• § The EURUSD pivot point is at 1.3390 with a preference to enter into short positions at 1.3380
• § The USDJPY pivot point is at 93.15 with a preference to enter long positions at 93.20

 Today's calendar and market movers:

• § UK PPI yy for March is forecasted to come in a 3.1%
• § Canada employment rate for March is expected to come in at 0.4%
• § US Wholesale Trade for February is expected to come in at 0.5%

 Equity Markets:

•  US equities closed positive yesterday with the DJIA and the SP500 closing 0.27% and 0.17% respectively.  The European bourses were negative yesterday with the FTSE down -0.86% the DAX and the CAC closing up at 0.0% and -1.20% respectively. The NIKKEI and the HSI at the time of writing is 0.32% and 1.33% respectively.