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European Economics Preview: U.K. GDP Data Due

Quarterly national accounts from the U.K. is the major data that is set to dominate the scene on Wednesday.
Spain's statistical office INE is set to publish producer prices for March. Producer prices had increased 3.4 percent year-on-year in February.
At 4.00 am ET, the European Central Bank is scheduled to release bank lending survey results. In the meantime, Norges Bank's first quarter bank lending survey data is due.
Poland's retail sales and unemployment reports are also due at 4.00 am ET. The jobless rate is seen falling to 13.4 percent in March from 13.5 percent in February. Retail sales growth is expected to drop to 10.5 percent from 13.7 percent a month ago.
The Office for National Statistics is scheduled to release quarterly national accounts for the first quarter. Economists forecast the U.K. economy to expand 0.1 percent sequentially after contracting 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.
In the meantime, the U.K. index of services for three months ended February is due. Services output is expected to rise 0.5 percent from the prior three months.
At 5.30 am ET, Germany's long-term debt auction results are due. The government aims to raise EUR 3 billion from the issue of bonds maturing on July 2044.
The Confederation of British Industry is scheduled to release Industrial Trends survey data at 6.00 am ET. The order book balance is seen at -6 percent in April compared to -8 percent in March.


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European Economics Preview: Eurozone Economic Sentiment Due

Economic sentiment data from Eurozone is the major report on tap for Thursday, an otherwise light day for European economic news.
Consumer confidence survey results from Statistics Finland is expected at 2 am ET.
At 3.15 am ET, Sweden's National Institute of Economic Research is due to release the economic tendency survey report for April. At 3.30 am ET, Swedish producer price figures from Statistics Sweden is slated for release.
At 4 am ET, Italian business sentiment data is due. Economists expect the sentiment index to remain unchanged in April. The Norwegian Labor and Welfare Organization is also due to announce the unemployment figures for this month at the same time.
The British Bankers' Association is scheduled to publish mortgage approvals data for the month of March at 4.30 am ET. The number of mortgage approvals are expected to rise to 34,000 during the month.
Euro area economic sentiment survey results from the European Commission is slated for release at 5 am ET. Economic confidence index is expected to fall only slightly to 94.2 in April from 94.4 in March.
Italy is auctioning EUR 8.5 billion in six-month treasury bills at around 5 am ET.
The Confederation of British Industry is due to publish the distributive trades survey at 6 am ET. German preliminary inflation data is expected at around 8 am ET.


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European Economics Preview: German GfK Consumer Confidence Due

Consumer confidence survey results from Germany and consumer spending from France are due on Friday.
At 2.00 am ET, German GfK consumer confidence is due. The forward-looking indicator is forecast to remain unchanged at 5.9 points in May.
In the meantime, Destatis is slated to publish German import prices for March. Import price inflation is seen slowing to 3.3 percent annually from 3.5 percent in February.
At 2.45 am ET, the French statistical office Insee is scheduled to release consumer spending and producer price figures. Economists forecast consumer spending to fall 1.9 percent month-on-month in March. At the same time, producer price inflation is expected to drop to 4 percent in March from 4.3 percent in February.
At 3.00 am ET, a slew of statistical reports are due from Spain. Spain's EU harmonized inflation is seen unchanged at 1.8 percent in April. For the first quarter, the jobless rate is forecast to rise to 23.8 from 22.8 percent in the prior quarter.
Half an hour later, Statistics Sweden is scheduled to issue retail sales and trade balance for March. Retail sales are expected to drop 0.3 percent month-on-month after rising 1.2 percent a month ago. Economists predict the trade surplus to rise to SEK 7 billion from SEK 5.9 billion in February.
At 4.00 am ET, Italy's retail sales figures are due. Retail sales are forecast to drop 0.2 percent month-on-month in February after rising 0.7 percent in January. In the meantime, Norway's retail sales data is also due.
Italy plans to raise a maximum of EUR 6 billion from BTP auction. Results are due at 5.10 am ET.


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UK House Prices Increase For Second Month

House prices in the UK rose for a second consecutive month in April led by London, a survey by Hometrack revealed Monday.
Home prices at national level rose 0.1 percent month-on-month in April after 0.2 percent gain in March, the survey report said. The strongest price gain was reported in London, with a 0.3 percent increase.
"Conflicting reports over the strength of the economy and renewed fears over the prospects for the Eurozone could over the coming months impact on buyer confidence," said Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack. "As a result we expect price rises to flatten out as we move into the summer."
Meanwhile, the supply of properties rose 4.8 percent in April, faster than a 3.6 percent increase in March.


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Eastern European Business Climate Index of Foreign Direct Investors Soars in April - Oekb

The OeKB Central and Eastern European Business Climate index of FDI soared to 24 points from 14 in Jan
The economic outlook gauge swung 21 points higher to 11 in April from -10 in Jan.
Russia's business climate gained 13 points to 58 and Romania's doubled to 28, while Ukraine's reading fell eight points to 26 amid continued political tension.
Hungary was in negative territory even as its business climate improved to -9 from -31.
Quotes
"The mood among direct investors for the entire central Europe region has improved noticeably since January. For the coming 12 months a pick-up in the economy and thus a rise in Austrian exports to CEE is expected
OeKB survey


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Now Is Not the Time to Abandon Flexible Inflation Policies says Boc's Mark Carney

Now is not the right time to part with flexible inflation policies with "low -fo-long" said BoC's Carny to FT
He said that perusing a policy of temporary higher inflation is an uncertain and extreme response
He did not mention any C bank while referring to targeting infaltion
Quotes
"Moving temporarily to a higher inflation target risks un-anchoring inflation expectations and squandering the hard-won gains of entrenched price stability"
"Higher and more uncertain inflation raises risk premiums and real interest rates, and worsens debt dynamics,"
"Central banks are most effective when they operate with clear and stable objectives."
"The pursuit of temporarily higher inflation could only work if policy were anchored to a new target, such as nominal gross domestic product - total output at market prices, unadjusted for inflation,"
BoC's Mark Carney
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China Expands Qfii Investment Products, Relax Rules

Chinese authorities have relaxed rules for QFII investor by allowing them to apply for separate QFII status while remaining under the same financial group which will enable number of funds for investment. The scheme will now expand to allow more investments in structure products. Authorities will also relax the ratio for investing in bonds, stocks and cash


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Business Investment stalled French Economy to Zero Growth in Q1 As Expected

French preliminary GDP growth was reported neutral in Q1. Business investment was down by 1.4 pct while household and Public investment declined by 0.2 pct and 0.1 pct each. Household consumption (+ 0.2 pct) and Public consumption (+0.5 pct) however supported the economy. Economists also expected a zero growth for the economy however some expected it to decline by 0.3 pct as well. Other European economies going to report their GDP growth are Germany (poll 0.1 pct q/q), Italy (poll -0.6 pct q/q ), Dutch (poll -0.2 pct q/q). Euro zone as a whole expected to report shrinkage of 0.2 pct in q/q terms




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Greece Worries Hits Nikkei, S. Korea's Kospi Tumbles

Worries about possibility of Greece leaving euroz one hit Nikkei hard as Japanese Benchmark Index lost 1.1 pct at mkt close. South Korea's KOSPI tumbled very sharply by 3.08 pct at mkt close with losers like Samsung Electronics (- 6.2 pct) amd SK Hynix (-8.9 pct). IMF's Lagarde said yesterday that Greece could exit in orderly fashion, but even that could have impact beyond imagination because of possible contagion


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Japan's Noda Wants Bold Action from Boj, Shirakawa Remains Cautious

Japan's PM Noda said that BoJ should take bold and appropriate action to beat deflation and tackling stronger yen. However BoJ's Shirakawa remained cautious on the issue and said it quite clearly that monetary policy alone can't beat deflation and could backfire with unwarranted consequences in the markets. However he admitted that Japanese economy in severe state and BoJ would do utmost to ensure economic growth and price stability. Both of them where speaking at lower house parliamentary session on Japan's social welfare and tax reforms.


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