It was another hectic week for traders last week as geopolitical updates again dominated market flow. Stock markets remained strong despite talk of bearish sentiment, while gold smashed new records on a daily basis.
The US–China trade debate will again take centre stage for investors this week as they continue to deal with a lack of US data due to the government shutdown, although we are scheduled to get key CPI numbers later in the week.
Earnings numbers will also feature for equities markets, with big names Tesla and Netflix due to report, which investors will also monitor for an overall perception of the US economy.
Here is our usual day-by-day breakdown of the major risk events this week:
The macroeconomic calendar kicks off early this week with a focus on New Zealand data early in the day, with CPI numbers due out shortly after the open. The focus moves north later in the day with a big Chinese data drop due; Loan Prime Rate numbers are scheduled before we then have key GDP, Industrial Production, and Retail Sales data midway through the session. The latter two sessions are relatively quiet from a calendar perspective, but traders will be paying close attention to newswires for any trade updates.
The Asian session has little on the cards on Tuesday, but things will start to pick up as we move through the day. ECB President Christine Lagarde is due to speak in the London session, but the major focus for the day will be on Canadian markets close to the New York open, when key CPI numbers are released.
It is a relatively quiet day on Wednesday on the calendar, with little in the first session of the day. There will be key UK CPI numbers out early in the London session, which will have sterling traders on their toes, but there is little else scheduled for the rest of the day to influence markets.
It is another quiet calendar day on Thursday, with nothing of note out during the first two sessions of the day. Once again, Canadian markets will be in focus at the New York open, with Retail Sales data due out. Existing Home Sales numbers are scheduled out of the US as well, but traders are still expecting geopolitical updates to dominate flow.
It is a busy day to end the week on Friday, with Flash Manufacturing and Services PMI numbers due out from several jurisdictions, including Australia, France, Germany, the UK, the EU, and the US. We are also scheduled to have delayed key CPI data out of the US, which will give us our first big data update for three weeks, with plenty of volatility expected around the release.
