Key events: UK - BoE Interest Rate Decision (May) UK - BoE MPC Meeting Minutes USA - Initial Jobless Claims USA - PPI (MoM) (Apr) UK - BoE Gov Bailey Speaks The softer-than-expected US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Wednesday has increased confidence in the market that a US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike pause in June is likely. The YoY CPI for April rose 4.9%, slightly lower than expectations of a 5.0% increase, while the monthly CPI in April rose 0.4% after gaining 0.1% in March.

Key events:         UK – BoE MPC Treasury Committee Hearings     Eurozone – EU Leaders Summit      USA – Initial Jobless Claims Yesterday we could see another day of record highs for the FTSE100, as European markets again outperformed US markets, which bounced back.

Key events:       USA – Core Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (Dec) USA – GDP (QoQ) (Q4)    USA – Initial Jobless Claims   USA – New Home Sales (Dec)    Although the U.S. PMI fell further in January, inflation did accelerate. It is still unclear whether the Fed should take a more dovish or hawkish stance – and that cannot help but affect gold.

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