Markets can look forward to potential policy hints from ECB officials including Pablo Hernandez de Cos, Luis de Guindos and Frank Elderson at various events over the course of the day, with the Fed’s Jeffrey Schmid, Raphael Bostic and Mary Daly also on speaking duty.
Currently, traders expect an ECB cut in June, a BoE easing in August and a Fed reduction in September. The currency market reflects that shift, with the dollar sitting near multi-month highs to both the euro and sterling.
The yen, meanwhile, is clinging to the 34-year low against the greenback from Thursday, prompting another round of intervention warnings from Japan’s finance minister.
European equities look set to slump to another weekly decline, with the STOXX 600 entering Friday down 0.4%, and a Wall Street-inspired rally unlikely considering Asia’s lukewarm reception.
Corporate news will become increasingly important for equity direction from today, with the big banks – including JPM, Wells Fargo and Citigroup – kicking off the U.S. earnings season.
Big Tech’s reporting season gets underway next week, with Netflix on Thursday.
