The economic calendar on Thursday, April 15 will be quite busy.
Early on in the day, Australia released a positive employment change report, together with an unemployment rate reading that was lower than forecasted, thus pleasantly surprising investors.
Meanwhile, inflation data from Germany and France, the EU’s economic powerhouses, as well as Italy, met the forecasts exactly, which won’t affect the markets in a meaningful way.
The United States, on the other hand, published a better than expected retail sales report for March and lower initial jobless claims that forecasted. However, the continuing unemployment claims were more than anticipated, showing a slow recovery in the labor market.
Later in the day we expect industrial production data from the United States, together with several speeches by Federal Reserve officials.
The quarterly bank earnings in the US continue today. The Bank of America is having a good day, after posting great earnings reports, and announced an ambitious $25 billion buyback of stock, which is further boosting its share value. The next US banks set to reveal how they did in Q1 of 2021 are Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp.
As for the stock market, today we see upticks in all major US indices, a trend likely to keep throughout the earnings season. Coinbase, whose IPO we mentioned earlier this week, debuted to a higher value than expected, after notable hedge fund manager Cathie Wood backed it up with a substantial investment.
The markets were not performing well in Russia, however, as the country is likely to face new sanctions by the United States due to its involvement in Ukraine and in the US presidential elections.
