Julex Market Weekly 03-30-2014

Top Stories Last Week

• Five of Thirty US Banks Failed Stress Tests

Citi Group, Zions Bancorp, HSBC North America, RBS Citizen’s Financial and Santander Holdings USA failed stress tests. The Fed rejected their capital plans. Citi Group shares tumbled by 5% after the news.

• Durable Goods Orders Rose, but Capex Looked Weak

The orders for durable goods increased 2.2%. However, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft unexpectedly fell 1.3%, indicating sluggish growth in the first quarter.

• German Inflation Rate Slowed to 0.9%

The harmonised index of consumer prices in Germany showed inflation slowed to 0.9% from the same period last year. The expectation had been for 1.0%. This may raise pressure on the European Central Bank to stop any drift toward deflation in the eurozone.

• Japan Neared Inflation Goal as Jobless Rate Fell

Japanese consumer prices rose for the ninth consecutive month in February at 1.3% from last year while unemployment fell to a more than six-year low at 3.6%, suggesting Prime Minister Abe’s efforts to combat years of falling prices and tepid growth were gathering steam.

Top Stories to Watch this Week

Monday: Inflation rate at Euro zone; Fed’s Yellen speech
Tuesday: German unemployment rate; US ISM Manufacturing Index
Wednesday: US ADP employment report
Thursday: ECB interest rate decision; US ISM Non-manufacturing Index
Friday: US nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate