U.S. Review
A Broadening Recovery Offsets Near-Term Weakness
· Nonfarm payrolls increased across most industries in March, signaling that the recovery is broadening and likely gaining momentum as payrolls rose by 192,000.
· The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent but the labor force participation rate and employment-population ratio both increased.
· Reports on manufacturing, motor vehicles sales, construction spending, and aggregate hours worked show the economy bouncing back from weather-induced setbacks earlier this year. February’s wider trade gap, however, hints that Q1 GDP growth may have been surprisingly soft.
Global Review
ECB Stays on Hold, Brazil’s Central Bank Hikes Again
· As widely expected, the European Central Bank kept its policy rates unchanged this week but it maintained its bias to easefurther. Recent economic data suggest that the slow recovery that began in early 2013 has continued into this year.
· The Central Bank of Brazil hiked rates for the ninth time in the past twelve months. With inflation starting to recede somewhat and growth remaining very sluggish, the central bank hinted that the rate hike cycle may be over, at least for now.
Read the full report: Commodities Research
Wells Fargo