Today’s main events will be the start of the G20 summit in London and the ECB’s decision on interest rates. Contrary to previous expectations, the ECB

Today’s main events will be the start of the G20 summit in London and the ECB’s decision on interest rates. Contrary to previous expectations, the ECB is now expected to cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points.

The ECB has completed sales of 35.5 tonnes of gold under the terms of a 2004 central bank agreement. These sales had no impact on the price of gold.

German retail sales fell 0.2% between January and February and were also down 5.3% from one year before.

The following PMI figures for March were published yesterday: France up from 34.8 in February to 36.5, Germany up from 32.1 to 32.4, Eurozone up from 33.5 to 33.9 and the UK up from 34.7 to 39.1.

In the US, according to the Challenger layoffs report, the number of planned job cuts announced by US-based employers in March declined to 150 411 from 186 350 in February. Spending on construction projects slipped 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of USD 967.5 billion. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) index of national factory activity rose to 36.3 in March from 35.8 in February