In the week ending June 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 221,000 to 223,000. The 4-week moving average was 225,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 222,250 to 222,750.

• Decided to Strenghten Monetary Tightening to Support Price Stability

• Will Continue to Use All Monetary Policy Tools for Price Stability

• Will Maintain Tight Stance in Monetary Policy Until Inflation Outlook Improves

In April 2018, both the value and volume of retail trade show a fall respectively of -4.6% and -5.4% comparing to April 2017, following strong growth in March 2018.

Notwithstanding the monthly volatility, looking at the underlying pattern, the 3 months to April picture reports a slight decline as value decreased by 0.5% and volume contracted by 0.2%.

In April 2018, the indices of retail trade saw a monthly recession, with value falling by 0.7% and volume dropping by 0.9%.

While both large scale distribution and small scale distribution strongly decreased when compared to April 2017, the online sales increased year-on-year by 16.2%.

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.4% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 during the first quarter of 2018, compared with the previous quarter, according to an estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the fourth quarter of 2017, GDP had grown by 0.7% in both zones. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 2.5% in the euro area and by 2.4% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2018, after +2.8% and +2.7% respectively in the previous quarter. During the first quarter of 2018, GDP in the United States increased by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter (after +0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP grew by 2.8% (after +2.6% in the previous quarter).

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.1952 (2554)

$1.1903 (2407)

$1.1858 (4374)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1798

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1730 (3959)

$1.1692 (4736)

$1.1646 (3000)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 167347 contracts (according to data from June, 6) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1500 (6047);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.3555 (1375)

$1.3510 (1492)

$1.3473 (1855)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3429

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3393 (1144)

$1.3371 (2547)

$1.3337 (2284)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date June, 8 is 41167 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3600 (2277);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date June, 8 is 43938 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3400 (2547);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.07 versus 1.05 from the previous trading day according to data from June, 6.

* - 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.

Japan's leading index increased as expected in April, according to rttnews.

The leading index, which measures the future economic activity, climbed to 105.6 in April from 104.5 in March.

Similarly, the coincident index that reflects the current economic activity improved to 117.7 in April from 116.0 in the previous month. That was just below the expected score of 117.8.

The lagging index came in at 116.9 in April versus 118.2 in March.

Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had decreased in April 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 2.5% on the previous month. For March 2018, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 1.1% compared with February 2018 (primary -0.9%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had decreased in April 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.7% on the previous month.

Domestic orders decreased by 4.8% and foreign orders decreased by 0.8% in April 2018 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were down 9.9%, new orders from other countries increased 5.4% compared to March 2018.

In April 2018 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders rise by 2.5% compared with March 2018. The manufacturers of capital goods showed decreases of 5.6% on the previous month. For consumer goods, a decrease in new orders of 2.2% was recorded.

In trend terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $1,461m in April 2018, an increase of $300m on the surplus in March 2018.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $977m in April 2018, a decrease of $754m on the surplus in March 2018.

In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits fell $763m (2%) to $34,188m. Non-rural goods fell $544m (2%), non-monetary gold fell $294m (16%) and rural goods fell $8m. Net exports of goods under merchanting rose $5m (83%). Services credits rose $78m (1%).

According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) surveys, at the end of May 2018, 109'392 unemployed people were enrolled in the Regional Employment Centers (RAV), 10'389 fewer than in the previous month. The unemployment rate fell from 2.7% in April 2018 to 2.4% in the month under review. Compared to the same month of the previous year, unemployment fell by 30,386 persons (-21.7%).