Key Points:
- The stronghold southern port city of Mariupol looks to be in the hands of the Russian forces with the last remaining Ukrainian fighters to be evacuated from inside
- Fed’s Evans calls for rates to be raised to 2.25%- 2.5% as fast as possible “front loading”
- Chinese consumer focused firms are facing increased risk as demand softens, this was confirmed by recent plunging April Retail Sales and Industrial Production results
- The European Central Bank has cut its 2023 economic growth forecast from 2.7% to 2.3%
- BoE Bailey says 80% of inflation is due to prices rises in energy and tradable products
- Crude Oil traded to its highest level since March 28th at 111.20
- Canadian house prices click down as sales volumes drop
- US Stock Indices are down 6 straight weeks
- The Japanese Yen (JPY) is the strongest currency this week with the Australian Dollar (AUD) the weakest.
- Iron ore bounces off 122.00 lows back to 127.00 assisting the AUD higher