U.K. retail sales including auto fuel gained 1.8 percent from February the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.5 percent gain. Sales excluding fuel climbed 1.5 percent. A 0.4 percent gain was predicted. The data add to evidence that the economy returned to growth in the first quarter. GBPUSD breaks above 1.6100.


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 US Initial jobless claims soar again to 386k vs expectations of 370K to the worst print in 4 months. To make matters worse, last weeks already unexpectedly high print of 380k was revised up to 388k. These numbers do not bode well for a good April non farm payroll which will be released on May 4th.



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Sterling hit a 19 month high against the euro after the MPC minutes revealed that UK monetary authorities voted 9-0 to keep rates unchanged and 8-1 not to expand QE any further as concerns over inflation cast a decidedly hawkish  tone to the meeting. Adam Posen ended his push for further Bank of England stimulus this month and David Miles described his view on the need for more as “finely balanced” as officials said inflation may turn out faster than forecast.
“There was a greater chance than before that above-target inflation would persist into the medium term,” the minutes said.



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Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate target at 1 %.

The bank projects that the economy will grow by 2.4 % in both 2012 and 2013 before moderating to 2.2% in 2014.



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