Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

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Written by
Lorcan Roche Kelly
Written by

Lorcan Roche Kelly

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Fed minutes are due out today, Le Pen loses her cool in French debate, and it's a big beat for U.K. services PMI. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.

Fed minutes, Lacker resigns

The minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting are due to be published at 2 p.m. Eastern Time today, with investors likely to focus on any discussion about the bank's plans to unwind its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. One person who will have no part in deciding that unwind is former Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker. The non-voting Fed member resigned abruptly yesterday after disclosing his role in the leaking of confidential policy information in 2012.

Le Pen loses her cool

In last night's marathon French election debate, which saw all 11 candidates face off, National Front leader Marine Le Pen failed to keep her composure as she was labeled soft on the euro by a marginal rival who claimed to be the true anti-euro firebrand. A viewer poll showed that Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon was the best performer, with front-runner Emmanuel Macron in second place. For Le Pen, a path for her to win the second round election is still not clear as even a record-low voter turnout may not be enough for victory.

Pound rally

The British pound climbed half a cent to $1.2481 by 5: 39 a.m. after U.K. services PMI data showed a rise to 55 in March from 53.5 the previous month. There was another warning on the U.K.'s approach to Brexit negotiations from the EU side today, with the union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warning that Britain must settle the terms of its exit before seeking a trade deal, or risk having no deal at all.

Markets drift higher

Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3 percent, while Japan's Topix index was little changed as the yen rose less than 0.1 percent against the U.S. dollar. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.2 percent higher at 5:49 a.m. as gains in miners and oil companies were cancelled by drops in auto and retail sectors. U.S. stock market futures were flat.

U.S./China trade

Figures released yesterday show that American imports from China had their largest one-month fall on record -- some of which was due to the timing of the Lunar New Year -- and that eight U.S. states carry a trade surplus with the country. China has also become the top buyer of U.S. crude oil. Such data means we may hear a different tone at this week's meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Donald Trump than the one the U.S. president struck during the election campaign.