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The trend in housing starts was 225,696 units in April 2018, compared to 226,942 units in March 2018, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

"In April, the national trend in housing starts remained stable at historically elevated levels, with lower starts of single-detached dwellings offsetting higher starts of multi-unit dwellings," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. "Notably, the national inventory of newly completed and unabsorbed multi-unit dwellings has been stable over the same period, indicating that demand for this type of unit has absorbed increased supply."

Prices in the last three months to April were 2.2% higher than in the same three months a year earlier, down from the 2.7% annual growth recorded in March.

House prices in the latest quarter (February-April) were 0.1% lower than in the preceding three months (November-January), the third consecutive decline on this measure.

On a monthly basis, prices fell by 3.1% in April, following a 1.6% rise in March, reflecting the volatility in the short term monthly measure.

Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said: "We've seen annual house price growth ease from 2.7% in March to 2.2% in April. House prices in the three months to April were 0.1% lower than the previous three months. Both the quarterly and annual rates have fallen since reaching a recent peak last autumn, with these measures providing a more stable indication of the underlying trend than the monthly change.

According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), at the end of April 2018, 119,781 unemployed were registered at the Regional Employment Centers (RAV), 10,632 less than in the previous month. The unemployment rate fell from 2.9% in March 2018 to 2.7% in the month under review. Compared with the same month of the previous year, unemployment fell by 26'546 persons (-18.1%). Youth unemployment in April 2018 Youth unemployment (15-24 year-olds) decreased by 1'635 (-12.1%) to 11'916.

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.2107 (1897)

$1.2077 (2343)

$1.2030 (508)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1928

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1882 (4094)

$1.1857 (2923)

$1.1828 (3755)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 135666 contracts (according to data from May, 7) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1500 (7110);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.3777 (2117)

$1.3719 (1060)

$1.3674 (737)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3579

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3508 (1420)

$1.3466 (625)

$1.3410 (2254)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date June, 8 is 35999 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3700 (2117);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 38469 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3500 (2254);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.07 versus 1.06 from the previous trading day according to data from May, 7.

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

Germany exported goods to the value of 116.1 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 90.9 billion euros in March 2018. Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that German exports declined by 1.8% and imports by 2.3% in March 2018 year on year. After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports were up 1.7% compared with February 2018, while imports were down 0.9%.

The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 25.2 billion euros in March 2018. In March 2017, the surplus amounted to +25.1 billion euros. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the foreign trade balance recorded a surplus of 22.0 billion euros in March 2018.

In March 2018, production in industry was up by 1.0% from the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis according to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In February 2018, the corrected figure shows an decrease of 1.7% (primary -1.6%) from January 2018

In March 2018, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 1.1%. Within industry, the production of capital goods increased by 2.6% and the production of consumer goods by 1.1%. The production of intermediate goods showed a decrease by 0.6%. Energy production was up by 1.4% in March 2018 and the production in construction increased by 0.6%