ECB to speed up purchases of bonds ahead of summer

•     ECB to speed up purchases of bonds ahead of summer

–    ECB Board member Coeure said ECB would speed up its bond purchases ahead of the summer lull so as not to interfere with market liquidity during slow period

–    Statement pushed down Bund yields relative to Treasuries = USD-positive

•     Better-than-expected US housing data helps USD sentiment

–    Building permits & housing starts for April beat estimates, adding to some other recent better-than-expected data to suggest maybe US economy is turning around

–    Fed funds rate expectations rose Monday & Tuesday = USD-supportive

•     Market debating whether Q1 GDP data is accurate

–    Fed Board of Governors says yes, San Francisco Fed says no

–    Q2 GDP estimate is pretty low, too

•     Japan GDP beats estimates on capital spending, inventories

–    Stocks rise, USD/JPY rises with them as usual

•     Today:

–    UK:  Bank of England meeting minutes may reiterate view that next move is likely to be a hike = GBP-bullish

–    US: FOMC meeting minutes may show that FOMC members see Q1 weakness as due to weather, port strike, still want to hike rates = USD-bullish