* Fed Lacker: “the case for raising rates will remain strong at the June meeting”; regarding weak data: “temporary factors like unseasonable weather”
* Fed Kocherlakota: “raising interest rates is going to…drive [the economy] the wrong way”
* BOJ Kuroda: “Japan’s economy is expected to continue recovering moderately as a trend”
* Bundesbank Tells German .
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Read more* The US Treasury semi-annual report urged euro area governments and Tokyo not to rely solely on monetary policy to lift growth
* China’s repo rate drops for a 6th week,
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Read more* FOMC Minutes: “several” thought June the right time for lift-off, “others” better to wait longer, “some” want to wait until 2016
* Fedmulls selling short term bonds to trim repo use after any rate
* Moody’s warns Brexit is a bigger threat to UK rating
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Read more* Shell to buy BG group for £46bn, one of the biggest oil and gas deals in the last 20 years
* UK BRC Shop Price Index -2.1% (largest decline since inception on Dec 2006) vs previous -1.7%
* Japanese outflows: buy the most Italian securities ever;
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Read more* RBA unch but retain easing bias
* Fed’s Lockhart on a rate hike “I would probably be biased toward the July or September dates as opposed to June…the first quarter was anomalous again”
* Fed’s Dudley wonders if March employment data reflects “temporary factors .
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