What grabbed the headlines last week?
Wall Street was delivered a tinely reminder last week of the power of 7.
Emphastic earnings reports from a few of the genuine magnificent mega tech companies like Alphabet, Microsoft and the team at Tesla ensured the S&P500 jumped 2.7%, the Dow Jones 0.40% and the tech heavy Nasdaq nigh on 4%, for the week.
The key takeaway could even be that the impact of Artificial Intelligence on near-term revenue is very much a reality.
At home the docket was dominated the Q1 24 CPI.
The softer than expected run ended in the March quarter with a stronger than expected print of 1.0%/qtr for both headline and trimmed mean CPI, compared to market expectations of 0.8%/qtr. In through the year terms headline CPI fell to 3.6%/yr, down from 4.1%/yr.
Trimmed mean CPI sits at 4.0%/yr, down from 4.2%/yr.
The upshot though is the CPI print beat expectations to the upside (and also the RBA’s implied profile) largely due to non‑discretionary items and the non‑tradables component.
Health and Insurance & financial services were the key drivers of inflation coming in higher than expected. Eight out of the 10 top categories were non‑discretionary items, with rent and education also producing large lifts in prices
The Week Ahead
In APAC, both NBS and the Caixin Manufacturing PMI data will be due on Tuesday ahead of Labour Day holidays for a first look into April business conditions.
Japan’s industrial production, employment figures and consumer confidence will also be key releases in the week.
At home, the March quarter CPI (Wednesday) is expected to rise 0.7%qoq taking annual inflation down to 3.4%yoy, from 4.1%yoy in the December quarter, which is slightly below the RBA’s implied 3.5%yoy forecast.
The Economic Calendar
Monday April 29 – Friday May 3
MONDAY
Japan Market Holiday
Spain Inflation (Apr, prelim)
Eurozone Economic Sentiment (Apr)
Germany Inflation (Apr, prelim)
TUESDAY
Japan Unemployment (Mar)
Japan Industrial Production and Retail Sales (Mar)
Australia Retail Sales (Mar)
China (Mainland) NBS PMI (Apr)
China (Mainland) Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Apr)
Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, Spain GDP (Q1, prelim)
Germany Retail Sales (Mar)
France Inflation (Apr, prelim)
Taiwan GDP (Q1, advance)
Eurozone Inflation (Apr, flash)
Italy Inflation (Apr, flash)
Mexico GDP (Q1, prelim)
Canada GDP (Feb)
United States CB Consumer Confidence (Apr)
WEDNESDAY
Brazil, China (mainland), France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia,
Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Singapore,
South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan,
Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom Market Holiday
Australia Employment (Q1)
Japan Consumer Confidence (Apr)
United States ADP Employment Change (Apr)
United States ISM Manufacturing PMI (Apr)
United States JOLTs Job Openings (Mar)
United States S&P Global Manufacturing PMI* (Apr)
Canada S&P Global Manufacturing PMI* (Apr)
United States FOMC Interest Rate Decision
THURSDAY
China (Mainland) Market Holiday
Worldwide Manufacturing PMIs, incl. global PMI released across May 1-2 (Apr)
South Korea Inflation (Apr)
Japan BoJ Meeting Minutes (Mar)
Australia Trade (Mar)
Indonesia Inflation (Apr)
United Kingdom Nationwide Housing Prices (Apr)
Switzerland Inflation (Apr)
Hong Kong SAR GDP (Q1, advance)
Canada Trade (Mar)
United States Trade and Factory Orders (Mar)
FRIDAY
China (Mainland), Japan Market Holiday
Turkey Inflation (Apr)
Eurozone Unemployment (Mar)
United States Non-Farm Payrolls, Average Hourly Earnings and Unemployment Rate (Apr)
United States ISM Services PMI (Apr)