4 Things You Need to Know Before the Market Opens

The French elections pushed global markets to record highs and postponed investors’ concerns for another week. The Euro climbed versus the US dollar after a long time of consolidation as Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the first round put at ease the European political uncertainty. Safe haven assets prices also dropped, and currently the markets major concern is the increasing tension between the US and North Korea.

In the week ahead, investors will be watching central banks meetings with the Fed, RBA and BoJ on line. US data will also be a major event as the NFP data releases on Friday.

In addition, investors will be watching for Brexit talks, political developments (North Korea and the US) and Apple earnings reports.

BoJ Meeting Minutes

On Tuesday at 00:50 GMT, the Bank of Japan will publish its meeting minutes. The central bank is not expected to announce any big changes, yet, investors will be closely watching for any clues about policy direction.

Following the meeting minutes at 01:20, BoJ governor Kuroda will deliver a speech to explain the central bank’s policy decision and its economic outlook.

The USD/JPY climbed higher during the previous week to close at 111.53.

Eurozone GDP

Eurozone GDP will be published on Wednesday at 10:00 GMT. The Eurozone economy is expected to grow by 0.5% in the first quarter of the year compare to 0.4% in the last quarter of 2016.

YoY, the region’s economy is expected to grow by 1.7%, unchanged from the previous month.

Federal Reserve Rate Decision Meeting

The Federal Reserve begins its two day policy meeting on Tuesday. Analysts expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged and signal for the next rate hike in June.

Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen will hold a press conference on Wednesday following a rate decision announcement. Investors will be watching Yellen’s statement for clues on the Fed’s assessment of inflation, labour market and economic outlook. The main question remains – how many times the Fed will raise interest rates this year? The Fed approved to raise rates at least twice till the end of the year.

US Non Farm Payrolls

After the previous month figures were extremely disappointing for the US economy, April non farm payrolls are expected to rise to 185,000 from 98,000. The unemployment rate is expected to rise slightly to 4.6% from 4.5% a month earlier.

Prior to NFP data, on Wednesday at 13:15 GMT, the ADP employment will be published and expected to rise by 175,000 compare to a surprising surge of  263,000 in the previous month. The ADP data can indicate NFP employment figures.

A good reading might confirm the next rate hike in June and increase the possibility of three rate hikes instead of the current anticipation of two rate hikes.

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