The dollar continues to climb, but nothing spectacular as the $-Index grabs +0.15% towards 103.50.
The greenback ends the week at its zenith, with a weekly gain of +0.5%, which is not 'decisive' as it has remained anchored in a 102.7/104.4 corridor since mid-January.
The rise in the $-Index was mainly due to a -0.5% fall in the yen to 149, followed by a -0.1% fall in the Canadian dollar and the pound to 1.2735.
The euro gained 0.1% on Friday to 1.0890, but was down -0.4% on the week.
T-Bond yields have continued to recover since last Friday (+15pts on US T-Bonds) with +2pts to 4.315% (vs. 4.04% at the March 8 low), the same spread for our OATs (to 2.884%), then +2.2pts on Bunds (to 2.440%) and +3.2pts on Italian BTPs to 3.7100%.

This morning, traders took note of the US consumer confidence index: it remained broadly stable in March, according to the index calculated by the University of Michigan, which came in at 76.5 in a preliminary estimate, compared with 76.9 the previous month.
However, the index is up 23.4% on March 2023, and consumers are still very much alive, as demonstrated by Thursday's solid retail sales figures, accompanied by the strongest annualized rise in producer prices since September.

Of note - albeit an 'inconclusive' figure - was a sharp contraction in manufacturing activity in New York State in March, according to the local Fed's 'Empire State' index of general conditions: the index plunged 19 points on the previous month to stand at -20.9.

Demand weakened due to a significant drop in new orders and a decline in shipments", explain the surveyors, adding that labor market indicators also weakened.

The pace of input price increases moderated somewhat, while that of selling prices remained stable. Businesses expect conditions to improve over the next six months, although optimism remained subdued.
Finally, US import prices rose by 0.3% in February compared with the previous month (+0.2% excluding petroleum products), while export prices increased by 0.8%, both gross and excluding foodstuffs.
Friday's session was marked by a -9% intraday fall in Bitcoin: the plunge began from a high of $72,400 at around 1.30 a.m. (i.e., in Asia) on Friday morning, and ended at around $65,700. It is attempting to balance out at around $69,200 this evening... which would enable it to end the week with a gain of +2% (compared with -2% around 10am this morning)



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