It is set to be a huge week ahead for financial markets this week, with major central banks due to make interest rate calls, big earnings numbers out, and crucial US jobs data updates.
Investors celebrated another strong week last week, with major stock indices closing near or at all-time highs, as deals between the US and various trade partners help to spur market optimism.
However, they are preparing for added volatility in the days ahead as updates hit the market hard and fast.
Here is our usual day-by-day breakdown of the major risk events this week:
It is actually a relatively quiet start to the week on Monday, with no major economic calendar events scheduled across all three trading sessions.
The calendar does kick into gear on Tuesday—and then doesn’t stop until the New York close on Friday—but not until the New York session, where we have the first US jobs numbers of the week in the form of the JOLTS Job Openings and the CB Consumer Confidence data.
Wednesday is a huge day on the macroeconomic calendar, with events scheduled in all three sessions culminating in a mammoth US trading day. Australian markets are in focus in the Asian session, with the key CPI numbers due out. Inflation data is also in focus during the European day, with the Spanish Flash CPI update due. The New York session kicks off with US ADP Non-Farms numbers and GDP data early in the day, before focus jumps north of the border for the Bank of Canada’s interest rate call. US Pending Home Sales data and the Crude Oil Inventory numbers come later in the session, before we then have a few hours to wait for the main event—the FOMC Interest Rate decision. On top of all that, we have Microsoft and Facebook earnings reports due out.
The fundamental updates keep coming hard and fast on Thursday, with Australian Retail Sales data due to drop in the Asian session, before focus moves further north for the Chinese PMI numbers. The focus will then move swiftly across to Japan for the key Bank of Japan rate call a couple of hours later. The European session is slightly quieter, with Prelim CPI numbers out of Germany and France, but the New York session is set to be busy again. Early in the day, we have a big data drop with Canadian GDP data out alongside US Core PCE Price Index numbers, as well as the Employment Cost Index and Unemployment Claims data. Earnings reports are also due from both Amazon and Apple.
The Asian session has little of note on the cards on Friday, but the next couple of sessions will see more updates coming. The London session sees more European inflation numbers, this time with the EU Flash CPI estimates due out. However, once again, the US will have the biggest say on moves into the weekend. The key US employment numbers, including the Non-Farms, Unemployment Rate, and Average Hourly Earnings numbers, are due out early in the piece, and traders are expecting plenty of volatility around the event. Later in the day, the ISM PMI numbers and Revised University of Michigan data updates are scheduled, but expect the jobs numbers to dominate sentiment into the weekend.
