Evolution of the international financial markets and evaluation of the main events and economic indicators of the previous day session. Available in English.
In yesterday’s session, investors reacted to the acquisition of First Republic Bank by JP Morgan, after the US government asked the biggest US bank to do so, according to the press note released by the bank. European financial markets were closed because of the May 1st holiday. Trading happened only in the US, Japan, and some emerging economies.
A more risk-on session was recorded across global markets on Thursday, as investors balanced out positive signals from corporate earnings results in the tech sector with mixed US economic data.
Investors continued to err on the side of caution on Wednesday, taking position ahead of the release of the Q1 GDP flash estimates for the US today and across the eurozone tomorrow.
Risk aversion returned to the fore during a volatile session on Tuesday, with investors sentiment faltered by the release of weak consumer confidence data and mixed signals from the ongoing Q1 corporate earnings season.
Investors started the week trading with no clear direction, taking on board mixed signals from the ECB and looking ahead for a new batch of corporate results and the Q1 GDP data for the world’s largest economies later this week.
Investors ended the week sticking with a cautious approach, taking on board mixed corporate earnings and resilient economic sentiment data pointing to more monetary policy tightening ahead. For the ECB, VP Luis de Guindos said core inflation remains “very sticky”and added that the next ECB moves will be based on data.
Investors traded with caution in yesterday’s session, amid mixed economic data releases and hawkish central banks’ communication. In particular, the minutes of the last ECB meeting showed how Governing Council members agreed to further tighten monetary policy if the inflation outlook in March’s projections is confirmed.
In yesterday’s session investors traded cautiously amid mixed corporate profits reports and lingering worries of persistent inflationary pressures, after the upside surprise in the CPI March data in the UK. Also, the US Beige Book released yesterday stated that the US economy stalled in recent weeks, with slowing hiring and inflation.
Caution continued to set the tone in financial markets amid mixed corporate profits releases and hawkish comments by US Federal Reserve members. In particular, Raphael Bostic argued in favor of a rate hike in May’s meeting, and pausing there, while James Bullard leaned towards bringing interest rates towards the 5.50-5.75% target range.
In the first session of the week, investors traded cautiously amid hawkish comments from some FOMC member and mixed results in the US corporate earnings season. In particular, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said that more evidence that US inflation is easing will be needed before changing the monetary policy stance.
Hawkish comments by officials from the ECB and the US Federal Reserve were the main drivers for investor sentiment in the last session of the week. In the euro area, Pierre Wunsch urged the ECB to speed up the reduction of its balance sheet and to stop reinvesting the maturing bonds while Joachim Nagel called for further interest rate hikes.