more Canadians are receiving unemployment benefits, up for the 6th straight month to 610k, up 7.8% MoM and 33% YoY; initial claims are up 62% YoY
BoC Governor Carney presents the MPR to the House Finance Committee
U.S.
S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for 20 major metropolitan markets declined 2.2% during February and is now down 18.6% YoY (vs -19% YoY through January), and is 30.7% lower than its 2006 peak
Consumer confidence recovered some ground to 39 in April, better than 5 of the previous 6 months --- but still lower than any other print in the history of the index since 1967
Richmond Fed Manufacturing index was also reported today, and, like everything else it seems, is less bad, at -9, up from -20 last month and as low as -55
INTERNATIONAL
French consumer confidence in April recovered a bit of ground to -41, but the business survey of overall demand fell to a new low, and French housing starts and building permits in March were off significantly (down 33.8% and 17.6%, respectively, in the last 3 months relative to the corresponding 3 months of the previous year)
German inflation continues to be modest, as CPI in April came in flat on the month and up just 0.7% YoY
Italian retail sales disappointed, down 3.1% YoY vs. expectations of -1.3%, but business confidence improved to 64.2 (relative to neutral level of 100)
Finnish unemployment jumped a half-percent more than expected, to 8.3% from 7.6%
Japanese retail trade fell a larger-than-expected 1.1% in March, though the YoY pace of decline was better than anticipated, moderating to -3.9%; small business confidence improved a tad to 30.8, off the January and February lows around 25 but still well below a neutral level of 50
Baltic Dry Index down again in the last couple of days (presumably on general risk aversion with the swine flu concerns) after 9 consecutive up days
LIBOR-OIS still gradually trending (very slowly) back towards normalcy, having drifted down over the last month from about 1% to 0.84%
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