• Consumer Price Index increased by 0.3% in March and year-on-year inflation increased to 1.9% from 1.5% in February. Inflation remained below 2.0% even though it was pushed higher by excise tax of tobacco and fuels reacting on higher prices of oil again.
• Number of job seekers declined to 430,500 in March while unemployment rate decreased to 7.3%. These figures are in line with our expectations. While number of vacancies growth continued, number of newly registered job applicants in March was similar as in February.
• In line with expectations, Japanese central bank left monetary policy parameters unchanged. Prime rate remains at 0.50%.
• Slovak retail sales increased by 4.6% in February while industrial production added 15.5% y/y.
• Germany’s foreign trade surplus reached EUR 13.8bn in February which is a decrease from January’s EUR 15.8bn. It is also below market expectations.