US: Business activity continues to rise at historically subdued pace in April - Markit

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

"Growth of business activity was sustained in April, albeit at a relatively modest pace in line with fairly limited gains in new orders" said Markit on Wednesday.

Key quotes:

With companies able to comfortably deal with current workloads, staffing levels rose at the slowest pace in nearly seven years
The seasonally adjusted Markit U.S Services Business Activity Index continued to record above the crucial 50.0 no-change mark during April, registering 53.1, up from 52.8 in the previous month
Growth in activity has now been recorded in each survey period since March 2016
April’s rate of expansion was well down on the survey average, which in part reflected another month of relatively subdued growth in new business
Faced with under-whelming growth in new business, the vast majority of companies (90%) reported no-change to their workforce numbers during the month.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD risks a deeper drop below 1.1750

EUR/USD keeps its vacillating mood in place as the the NA session drwas to a close on Tuesday, hovering below the 1.1800 hurdle amid acceptable gains in the US Dollar. In the meantime, market participants and the FX galaxy are expected to closely follow President Trump’s SOTU speech around 2AM GMT.

GBP/USD regains 1.3500 and above

GBP/USD extends its advance for the third day in a row on Tuesday, this time retesting the area beyond the 1.3500 hurdle. Cable’s uptick comes despite decent gains in the Greenback and the dovish message from the BoE’s Bailey at the UK Parliament.

Gold appears offered around $5,150

Gold is giving back a good portion of the recent multi-day rally, receding to the $5,150 zone per troy ounce amid the decent bounce in the US Dollar and mixed US Treasuty yields. In the meantime, markets’ attention remain on upcoming comments from Fed speakers.

Australia CPI to highlight persistent price pressures, backing a hawkish outlook

Australia will release its key set of inflation figures for the month of January on Wednesday, with the Consumer Price Index expected to rise by 3.7%, slightly lower than the 3.8% in the last month of 2025.

The Citrini report: How a debatable AI narrative can shake Wall Street

That AI-related headline alone was enough to rattle investors.US stocks slid sharply on Monday after a widely circulated Citrini Research memo outlined a hypothetical “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis”, warning that rapid AI adoption could push US unemployment into double digits as early as by mid-2028.

XRP pressured by weak ETF flows and declining retail interest

Ripple (XRP) is edging lower, trading above its intraday low of $1.32 at the time of writing on Tuesday. The decline from its weekly opening of $1.39 reflects heightened volatility in the broader cryptocurrency market, accentuated by tariff-triggered uncertainty.