After an armada of ugly data this week, US Durable Goods orders were expected to be the piece de resistance, and it was - with preliminary March orders crashing 14.4% month-on-month(far worse than the already bad 12% decline expected), sending year-over-year durable goods orders down 14.7% - the worst since the great financial crisis.
Moreover, The University of Michigan's final sentiment index for April slumped 17.3 points to 71.8 from a month earlier after a preliminary reading of 71, according to data on Friday. The gauge of current conditions fell to 74.3, better than the 72.4 initial reading, while a measure of expectations dropped to 70.1.
The EURUSD pair returned above the 1.08 handle after these numbers, but it looks like the greenback is still in high demand. Thus this rally might be sold into.
US equities were flat today, and there was no clear direction as investors remain cautious after Thursday's significant reversal.
Oil managed to book some gains, but it is still early to tell if the worst is over for this commodity.