Markets experienced another turbulent week last week as tariff updates from the United States and other countries continued to roil financial products.
The long Easter weekend will see liquidity issues on Monday with many major financial centres still on a break, but again, investors are expecting to see big moves on trade and tariff calls.
It is a relatively quiet week in terms of macroeconomic data updates and central bank input; however, the combination of thin liquidity and volatile trade conditions should make for another busy week for traders.
Here is our usual day-by-day breakdown of the major risk events this week:
The Easter long weekend will extend into Monday trading with thin liquidity conditions likely to continue. The Asian session will see a big focus on Chinese Loan Prime Rate updates, especially in light of the trade tariffs from the US, but there is little else on the calendar for the rest of the day.
All major markets return to the fray from Tuesday, but there is little on the calendar to deviate attention from geopolitical updates. We do hear from ECB President Christine Lagarde during the European session, and we have the Richmond Manufacturing Index in the US session, but overall expect news updates to dominate flow.
We have a raft of Flash Services and Manufacturing PMI data due out across the trading day today, with data due from Australia, France, Germany, the UK, the EU, and the US. We also have New Home Sales data due in the US, as well as speeches from the Fed’s Waller and Goolsbee, and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.
There is nothing of note due out on the calendar in the Asian session on Thursday and just the German IFO Business Climate data in the London session. However, the US session sees the usual release of the Weekly Unemployment Claims numbers alongside the Durable Goods and Existing Home Sales data.
Australian and Kiwi markets are closed on Friday for ANZAC Day celebrations, which will hit liquidity in Asia. However, we do have the key Tokyo CPI numbers due out in Japan.
The initial focus will be on UK markets at the European open, with the UK Retail Sales numbers due out early in the day before focus switches to Swiss markets with SNB Chair Martin Schlegel due to speak midway through the day. The New York open will see the initial focus north of the border for Canadian Retail Sales data before moving back to the US for the Revised University of Michigan numbers, before we hit the end of another trading week.
