This week saw negative sentiment dominate as markets faced a wall of worrying questions. Would big cap earnings meet expectations? Would China’s COVID lockdowns drag on global growth? Would Russia halting gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria happen to other countries as well? Global growth is going to come into increasing focus over the coming weeks and if it shows signs of slowing watch out for another leg lower in US stocks! Next week we have the Fed meeting, the RBA, and the BoE too so look out for volatility in FX markets. One key aspect to look for is a possible ‘buy the rumour, sell the fact’ response from the USD and more EURGBP gains into the BoE meeting.

Other key events from the past week

  • Natural Gas: Russia halts flows, April 26: Russia halted natural gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria this week following through on their promise to stop flows to those not prepared to make payments in rubles. Will this send oil and gas higher in the coming days if other countries also see Russian bans?
  • AUD: Inflation surge, April 27: Australian inflation rose to the highest level since 2009 with the trimmed mean print coming in at 3.7%. This was above the maximum reading expected of 3.6% and sets up growing expectations for an RBA rate hike next week. Will the RBA keep rates on hold though?
  • Growth in focus: Stagflation or Reflation? April 28: Big cap earnings from Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, (Meta) Facebook, and Microsoft, lockdowns in China, and the prolonged Russian and Ukraine conflict are all potential risk factors for future growth. Watch out for signs that growth is slowing to send stocks lower.

Key events for the coming week

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HYCM Lab is a financial analysis source that provides regular insights on how global news affects the markets including forex, commodities, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies*. Run by the HYCM team, it equips traders with everything needed to make informed trading decisions.