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Volatility continued to rein in financial markets on Wednesday, as investors took on board hawkish comments from central bank officials and the decision by the Chinese authorities to keep the benchmark lending rates unchanged.

Financial markets started the week with mixed results, as investors weighted out positive corporate earnings results with downward revisions in the growth economic outlook and a new round of hawkish commentary by some Fed officials (Charles Evans from the Chicago Fed and James Bullard from St. Louis).

Investors started the week with no clear direction, as traders digested mixed signals from the GDP data in China and corporate results in the US. Financial markets were closed across Europe, Australia and Hong Kong.

In yesterday's session, investors traded with mixed optimism as they continued to digest inflation data for the US, which might have peaked in March. On monetary policy, the Bank of Canada hiked rates by 50bp to 1% and said it would allow bonds to roll off as they mature. Today's focus will be on the ECB meeting.

In yesterday's session, inflationary concerns continued to be the main driver for investors. While markets initially received positively the March IPC for the US (8.5% y/y for the headline and 6.5% for the core), the pickup in oil prices and hawkish comments by some Fed officials led to a worsening of investor's sentiment.

Investors started the week trading with a risk-off sentiment, still digesting the hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve and ahead for March’s US CPI inflation data, to be released today.

Investors ended the week with cautious optimism, with equity indices rising across Europe and emerging markets but with mixed results in the US. Bank shares continued to outperform, reflecting expectations of a more aggressive interest rate normalization in advanced economies.

Another session dominated by risk aversion, as investors continued to digest the hawkish rhetoric from central banks in major advanced economies and mixed signals from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Sentiment deteriorated across financial markets on Wednesday, as investors digested the hawkish narrative in the accounts of the Fed’s latest meeting and the likely new imposition of sanctions against Russia.

Investors traded with a risk-off sentiment during a volatile session on Tuesday, weighting in a potential ban on Russian coal exports by the EU and taking on board a new round of hawkish commentary from the Fed. The minutes of the March meeting will be released by the Fed later today.

Financial markets started the week with cautious optimism, with investors looking ahead for the release of the minutes of the March meetings later this week by the Fed and the ECB. Talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to continue, while western governments called for new sanctions against Russia, prompting a new rise in oil prices.

Investors ended the week with mixed results, balancing out a solid employment report in the US (payrolls rose by 431.000 in March and the jobless rate fell to 3.6%) with upside surprises in inflation in the eurozone (HICP went up by 7.5% y/y in March). Ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine also remained in focus.