The US releases its final GDP for Q1 2016. A small upgrade is expected. The actual results is 1.1%, slightly better than 0.8% expected. Within the components, we do have a miss on personal consumption, with a downgrade to 1.5%. This is not good news. Sales did beat with 1.3% against 1.2% expected.
Corporate profits are now at 2.2% which is much better than 0.6% originally reported. All in all, there are no big surprises and the reaction in markets is muted. Consumer confidence from the Conference Board is up next.
Markets are still focused on Brexit, and for the right reasons. It is a huge event. The EU Summit in Brussels is going on with European countries telling the UK that there is no way to pick and choose parts in the EU membership while outgoing PM Cameron is defending his decision not to invoke Article 50 – the official EU exit.
Today is a day of correction in markets: the pound and other risk currencies are rising while the yen and dollar are sliding. However, things could deteriorate rapidly.
