U.S. stock futures and world markets are higher this morning after China announced it would let its currency trade more freely. In 2005, China let the yuan rise by about 20%, but halted its rise in 2008 at the beginning of the global financial crisis. Many countries criticized this policy, saying China kept its currency artificially low, thereby helping its exporters. The recent move has initially been interpreted positively as a stronger yuan compared with the dollar should allow U.S. manufactures and exporters to be more competitive selling their products in China.
The focus on China comes on a quiet day for domestic news. There are no major economic reports due today, but there will be plenty later in the week. Tomorrow, we will see the latest existing home sales data and the Federal Reserve begins its two-day meeting which culminates with an announcement on Wednesday. New home sales data will also be released Wednesday. Weekly jobless claims and the latest durable goods order report will be released Thursday. We end the week an update on first quarter GDP and a take on consumer sentiment.
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