The U.S. military intercepted two Iranian oil tankers that attempted to circumvent their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran was similarly active in the embattled waterway, attacking at least three ships and diverting two of them into Iranian waters as they look to keep the Strait closed. These actions are continuing to depress shipping volumes through the Strait of Hormuz to a fraction of pre-war levels, further expanding an oil-supply loss of around 1 billion barrels. Brent Crude trades around $103/barrel.

Turning the focus to the United States, Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending April 18th are due at 830am and are expected to print at 210k against last week’s figure of 207k. Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending April 11th will also be released and are expected to print at 1816k against the previous figure of 1818k. Preliminary PMI figures for the month of April are due at 945am and are expected to show a slight degree of economic expansion, rising from last month.

What to Watch This Week…

• Monex USA Online is always open

The complete Economic Calendar can be found here.

GBP ⇑

The British Pound is up against the Greenback this morning after April PMI figures saw an increase in both manufacturing and services and UK car registrations rebounded after a decline in the previous month. Traders have boosted their rate hike expectations from the Bank of England as a result, with two 25bps hikes now expected by the end of the year, with the first coming as early as June.

EUR ⇓

The Euro is down against the Buck this morning after April PMI figures failed to impress. While manufacturing numbers had a healthy increase, services numbers decreased by enough to drag the composite figure into contraction territory. Traders are similarly expecting two interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank by the end of the year, with the first coming in June.