The ZEW survey of investor expectations improved markedly in April jumping to 11.8 from -6.5 the month prior and helped lift the EUR/USD to session highs of 1.2990 in early European trade. Investors were encouraged by signs that the contraction in the 16 member union was beginning to flatten out and undoubtedly were influenced by the strong recovery in the equity markets in March.

Global equities took a severe pounding in today’s trading. For the U.S., concerns over another wave of banking crises seem to take hold of investor’s sense of fear and uncertainty. The Dow was sent down more than 3.0%, while crude prices plummeted nearly 9.0% on the day. With economic data at a minimum for this week, the primary driver in the U.S. will remain to be the flood of corporate earnings. While news has been primarily promising thus far, many are still convinced that this will be the seventh consecutive monthly decline in corporate earnings. Accordingly, the standard risk adverse formation took shape in favor of dollar and yen strength. Crosses bared the brunt of the selling, sending AUD/JPY spiraling down by more than 4.5%.

Cautious optimism is the perfect catch phrase for today’s events. Things are getting better but it is unclear whether or not this is just a break in the storm, or the very beginnings of stabilization. The Federal Reserve seems to believe that we are a long ways off, while recent economic data and earnings reports are pointing toward stabilization. The Dow spent much of the day trying to find the answer to this unanswerable question. In the end, the bulls were barely able to maintain control. The euro and pounds got hammered in today’s session, losing more than 150 and 120 pips respectively. Surprisingly, dollar strength was not enough to keep USD/JPY from sinking further. Commodity currencies were mixed on the day.