Tägliche Makro-Analyse

US: Existing home sales (March): 3.98M vs 4.05M expected (prior: 4.13M revised from 4.09M)

• Sales have decreased over the month after upward revisions to prior month data.
• Sales have decreased for both single-family homes (-3.5%m/m) and condos (-5.4% m/m).
• Inventories have increased over the month; despite this, median prices remained on a regular rising trend over the past months and were up by 1.4% y/y.
• Higher mortgage rates have weighed down on sales of houses.

Turkey: Current account (Feb.): -7.50bn USD vs -7.10bn expected (prior: -7.04bn revised from -6.81bn)

• Trade deficit has increased over the month, due to higher oil prices, and surplus from services has decreased.
• Official reserves have declined by USD 10.63 bn after USD +11.9 bn the prior month.

US: CPI (March): 0.9% m/m as expected (prior: 0.3%)

• CPI y/y: 3.3% vs 3.4% expected (prior: 2.4%)
• Core CPI:  0.2% m/m vs 0.3% expected (prior: 0.2%); 2.6% y/y vs 2.7% expected (prior: 2.5%)
• Inflation recorded in March the strongest monthly increase in nearly four years and annual inflation rose to the highest level since 2024.
• About three quarters of the monthly advance is due to the surge in energy goods prices (+21% m/m). Airfares rose 2.7% m/m.
• On the positive side, grocery costs declined 0.2% m/m, used car prices declined 0.4% m/m while services costs ex housing & energy rose 0.2% m/m, the slowest pace this year.

US: Consumer confidence (Michigan) (April Prel.): 47.6 vs 51.5 expected (prior: 53.3)

• Current conditions: 50.1 vs 53.4 expected (prior: 55.8)
• Expectations: 46.1 vs 50.2 expected (prior: 51.7)
• On the back of rising worries about increasing inflation, consumer inflation fell to a record low according to this survey.
• Consumers now expect prices to rise at an annual rate of 4.8% over the next year (vs 4.2% expected), a full percentage point increase from March.
• Consumers' perceptions of their current financial situation matched the worst level since 2009.
• The partisan divide remains extremely elevated, but sentiment slipped across the board this month, regardless of political stripe.

US: Durable goods orders (Feb. F.): -1.3% m/m vs -1.4% expected (prior: -0.5%)

• Factory orders were flat in February (vs -0.2% m/m expected).

Italy: Industrial production (Feb.): 0.1% m/m vs 0.5% expected (prior: -0.6%)

• Industrial production was up 0.5% y/y vs down 3.6% in January.

Switzerland: Seco Consumer confidence (March): -42.9 vs -32.4 expected (prior: -30.4)

• Consumer confidence fell back to last April's (low) level.

Norway: CPI (March): 0.2% m/m (prior: 0.6%)

• Headline inflation rose to 3.6% (as expected) from 2.7% in February.
• Underlying inflation was unchanged at 3.0% y/y (vs 3.1% expected).

US: Initial jobless claims (Apr 4): 219k vs 210k expected (prior: 203k revised from 202k)

• New jobless claims rose more than expected in late March and early April, a period often prone to statistical noise because of holidays.
• Even so, initial claims have remained below their level in the comparable week of 2025 for eight straight weeks.
• More telling, continuing claims a proxy for the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, fell by 38,000 to 1.794 million, near a two-year low. That gradual decline could hint at a labor market that is stabilizing.

US: GDP (4Q T): 0.5% q/q vs 0.7% expected (prior: 0.7%)

• Real GDP growth was revised down again, to 0.5% q/q in the third estimate, from 0.7% previously.
• Even so, final sales to private domestic purchasers, a gauge of underlying demand, held steady.

US: Core PCE deflator (Feb): 0.4% m/m as expected (prior: 0.3%)

• Headline PCE rose in line with expectations in February, while the annual rate held at 2.8%. The pressure was coming mainly from goods (contributing 20 bps to the core reading vs 7 bps in January).
• Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred gauge, edged down on the month. Year-on-year, it eased from 3.1% to 3.0%.
• The supercore measure (core services excluding housing) slowed to 0.22% in February from 0.48% in January, signaling a further cooling in underlying services inflation.
• These figures predate the Iran conflict and the ensuing surge in energy prices.

US: Personal spending (Feb): 0.5% m/m vs 0.6% expected (prior: 0.3% revised from 0.4%)

• Even before the conflict, consumers tightened their belts. In February, personal income unexpectedly fell by 0.1% m/m, versus a forecast rise of 0.3%. The drop was driven by weaker transfer payments (notably Social Security) and lower dividend income; labor income rose a modest 0.2%.
• With spending outpacing income, the saving rate slipped to 4.0% from 4.5% in January, before March’s gasoline shock hit.
• Real consumer spending rose just 0.1%, undershooting expectations of 0.2%.

Germany: Industrial production (Feb): -0.3% m/m vs 0.7% expected (prior: 0.0% revised from -0.5%)

• German industrial output disappointed in February, dragged down by a slide in construction. Manufacturing was merely flat, following a sharp drop around the turn of the year.
• Within manufacturing, the picture was mixed: production rose in several categories, including transport, but steep falls in pharmaceuticals (-4.4% m/m), computers (-3.9%) and furniture (-4.2%) weighed on the headline.
• The case for a rebound looks thin. New manufacturing orders offered little sign of a broad-based recovery, and surging energy costs have darkened sentiment: the latest Ifo survey reported a deterioration in business expectations across all major sectors.

Germany: Trade Balance (Feb): 19.8bn EUR vs 18.5bn expected (prior: 20.3bn revised from 21.2bn)

• Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in February as exports rose 3.6% m/m to a three-year high, while imports climbed 4.7%.

Eurozone: PPI (Feb): -0.7% m/m vs -0.6% expected (prior: 0.8% revised from 0.7%)

• Producer prices cooled further in February. Energy costs fell by 2.4%, reversing a 1.3% rise the month before, while prices for non-durable goods slipped 0.2% for a second month running.
• The deceleration was broad-based: intermediate goods inflation eased to 0.3% from 1%, capital goods to 0.3% from 0.6%, and durable goods to 0.2% from 0.8%.
• Country-level moves were uneven but mostly down. Spain saw the sharpest drop (-3.1%), followed by Ireland (-2.6%). Germany registered a modest 0.5% decline, France a 0.2% fall.

Eurozone: Retail sales (Feb): -0.2% m/m as expected (prior: 0.0% revised from -0.1%)

• Sales of food, drink and tobacco slipped 0.5%, snapping a two-month streak of gains, while non-food purchases flatlined after two consecutive declines.
• By contrast, fuel trade perked up, rising 0.7% and undoing the prior month’s 0.8% fall.
• Across the big economies, the picture was mostly softer: Germany led the pullback (-0.6%), followed by the Netherlands (-0.3%) and France (-0.1%). Italy and Spain were unchanged.

Switzerland: Unemployment rate (sa) (Mar): 3.0% as expected (prior: 3.0%)

• The unemployment rate came in line with expectations.

Germany: Factory orders (Feb): 0.9% m/m vs 3.0% expected (prior: -11.1%)

• German factory orders picked up ahead of the Iran war, though by less than forecasters had hoped. Excluding large-scale contracts, orders rose a sturdier 3.5%.
• Looking ahead, higher public outlays on infrastructure and defence should lend support at home. Even so, the Iran conflict threatens to sap manufacturing sentiment and muddy the outlook for further gains in orders.