ECONOMIC NEWS

Dow Jones Industrials +0.58% at 12,350.61

Nikkei 225 +0.48% at 9,755.10

HK Hang Seng +0.19% at 23,495.77

G20 - Finance chiefs meet in China. Geithner states that countries should have flexible exchange rates as France pushes for a bold agenda focused on reform that could see the yuan brought into the basket of currencies currently restricted to the Euro, dollar, yen and pound.

IMF - Deputy managing Director, Naoyuki Shinohara has stated that the global economic recovery faces "considerable downside risks"

US - Non farm payroll data will be released tomorrow and expectations are high. Yesterday the ADP employment report showed that private payrolls grew by over 200,000 in March increasing expectations that the figures released tomorrow will be positive suggesting that the labour market has turned the corner.

China - As maturing debt and expiring re-purchase agreements inundate the financial system with cash, the People's Bank of China is selling the most bills in a year in an effort to absorb excess cash in the system and reduce inflation.

• The general consensus is that as inflationary pressures remain prominent the financial authority will continue to remove capital from the system.
• The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has announced that it expects credit to grow at the slowest pace in 3 years as the government continues to call loan restraint.

Japan - Figures released today are starting to quantify the impact the devastating earthquake has had on the economy. The manufacturing sector deteriorated at the fastest pace in almost a decade this month with PMI falling to 46.4 from 52.9 according to the Japan Materials Management Association.

Ireland - Later today the Central Bank will publish the results of a third round of stress tests on the country's banks, followed by the proposed plan to raise more capital.

Australia - Retail sales rose last month and lending to businesses rose for the first time in over 6 months. Retail sales rose 0.5% from a month earlier.