Is it April fools? No, it’s not. Theresa May has just called for a general election on the steps of Downing Street. After her warm message of hope for Easter, Theresa May surprised the world by announcing an early ‘snap’ election on June 8. Easter has proved to be lucky this year for the Pound. Sterling recovered strongly following Theresa May’s announcement. However, Brexit is still a big theme and now markets have to cope with upcoming general elections.
Major political events will be closely watched this week with the world watching as the French head to the polls. The first round of the vote will take place on Sunday April 23. Fillon is taking the lead over Le Pen for the first time since January. However, Le Pen has a good number of loyal supporters according to some sources. The world can only wait and watch what will happen as the polls get tighter over the coming days. Investors will monitor the Euro moves, as the Euro witnessed a rocky start to the week already. With the upcoming elections in France, the UK and Germany, more volatility is expected in the markets.
Across the pond, some investors seem to have given hope on Trump after his recent statement that a strong dollar is not favourable for the US. Back to the Euro, markets will react depending upon who gets through in the second round of elections in France.
The main data that market participants will be looking at this week is the US housing figures, the eurozone inflation numbers, eurozone PMIs and UK retail sales.
Here’s a quick glance of the main market-movers expected this week:
Monday
15:00 – USD NAHB Housing Market Index (Apr)
22:00 – USD Fed’s Stanley Fischer Speech
Tuesday
13:30 – USD Building Permits Change (Mar)
13:30 – USD Housing Starts Change (Mar)
13:30 – USD Building permits (MoM) (Mar)
13:30 – USD Housing Starts (MoM) (Mar)
14:15 – USD Industrial Production (MoM) (Mar)
14:15 – USD Capacity Utilisation (Mar)
Wednesday
10:00 – EUR Consumer Price Index – Core (YoY) (Mar)
10:00 – EUR Consumer Price Index (MoM) (Mar)
10:00 – EUR Consumer Price Index – Core (MoM) (Mar)
11:00 – Trade Balance n.s.a (Feb)
Thursday
07:00 – EUR Producer Price Index (MoM) (Mar)
07:00 – EUR Producer Price Index (YoY) (Mar)
13:30 – USD Initial Jobless Claims (Apr 14)
13:30 – USD Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey (Apr)
15:00 – EUR Consumer Confidence (Apr)
16:30 – GBP BoE’s Governor Carney Speech
17:30 – GBP BoE’s Governor Carney Speech
18:15 – GBP Treasury Sec. Mnuchin Speech
Friday
08:30 – Eur Markit PMI Composite (Apr)
08:30 – Eur Markit Services PMI (Apr)
08:30 – Eur Markit Manufacturing PMI PMI (Apr)
09:00 – Eur Markit Service PMI (Apr)
09:00 – Eur Markit Manufacturing PMI
09:00 – EUR Markit PMI Composite (Apr)
09:00 – CHF ZEW Survey – Expectations (Apr)
14:30 – USD FOMC Member Kashkari Speech
14:45 – USD Markit Services PMI (Apr)
14:45 – USD Markit PMI Composite (Apr)
18:00 – USD Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Count
Saturday
24hr – EUR IMF Meeting
