Foreign Exchange Market Update

March 31, 2026

United States

Consumer confidence in the U.S. improved in March. The consumer confidence index inched up to 91.8 in March from 91.0 in February.  Three of five components of the Index firmed in March, and overall confidence improved modestly for the second month. The Index has been on a general downward trend since 2021.

Meanwhile, Consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated in March. Consumer sentiment index for March was 53.3, which is well below February's final reading of 56.6. 03/31/2026 - 10:28:00 (RTTNews)

Job openings in the U.S. decreased in February, according to the Labor Department on Tuesday. Job openings fell to 6.882 million in February from 7.240 million in January.

Hires fell to 4.849 million in February from 5.347 million in January, and total separations decreased to 4.971 million in February from 5.144 million in January. Within separations, quits declined to 2.974 million in February from 3.131 million in January, while layoffs and discharges rose to 1.721 million in February from 1.660 million in January. 3/31/2026 - 10:12:00 (RTTNews)

Eurozone

Euro traded at 1.1516 against USD at 9:00 AM PST

German unemployment remained unchanged in March, highlighting the resilience of the country's job market. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.3% in March. The number of people out of order also remained at the same level as in February, at 2.977 million.

The number of unemployed decreased by 2,000 from the previous month to 1.76 million, while employment was down 111,000 in February from last year. The downward trend in the year-on-year labor market figures, which has been observed since August 2025, continued in February. 03/31/2026 - 09:37:00 (RTTNews)

French consumer prices grew the most since August 2024 as the war in the Middle East pushed up energy prices. Consumer price inflation rose to 1.7% in March from 0.9% in February, marking the sharpest rise since August 2024, when prices were up 1.8%.

E.U. harmonized inflation also accelerated, reaching 1.9% from 1.1% the prior month. The surge in inflation was fueled by the sharp rebound in energy prices, which climbed 7.3%. Services inflation ticked up to 1.7% from 1.6%. Meanwhile, food inflation softened to 1.8% from 2.0%. Manufactured products’ prices logged a deeper fall of 0.6%. 03/31/2026 - 07:41:00 (RTTNews)

Consumer price inflation in Italy increased further in March to the highest level in eight months. Inflation accelerated to 1.7% in March from January's 1.5%. Moreover, a similar inflation rate was last seen in July 2025.

The rise in inflation was largely due to a slight decrease in regulated energy prices, which fell only 1.3% versus an 11.6% slump in February. Similarly, the deflation in unregulated energy costs softened to 2.4% from 6.2%. Inflation based on unprocessed food products accelerated to 4.4% from 3.7%.
 

On the other hand, the annual price growth in recreational, cultural, and personal care services eased to 3.0% from 4.9%, and costs for transport-related services grew at a slower pace of 2.4%.

Monthly, consumer prices moved up 0.5%. The E.U. measure of inflation, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), increased at a stable rate of 1.5% annually in March. Monthly, the HICP climbed 1.6%. 03/31/2026 - 07:23:00 (RTTNews)

United Kingdom GDP Expands 0.1% in Q4

British Pound traded at 1.3202 against USD at 9:00 AM PST

The U.K. economy expanded at a steady pace in the fourth quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1% from the prior quarter, which followed similar growth in the third quarter. The quarterly growth was driven by the 1.2% increase in production.

Meanwhile, construction output contracted 2.0%, and services output remained flat. The expenditure-side breakdown showed that growth was supported by investment, household spending, and government consumption.

Household spending and government consumption edged up 0.1% each, and gross fixed capital formation grew 0.2%. Within gross fixed capital formation, business investment declined 2.5%. Excluding the alignment adjustments, inventories fell by GBP 627 million in the fourth quarter. 03/31/2026 - 03:57:00 (RTTNews)