Australia and India's central banks are navigating the shifting sands of data and markets are digesting what the world's top central banks have to offer. The question is what impact this will have on bonds and stocks markets after a stellar January?
Here's a look at the week ahead in markets from Kevin
Buckland in Tokyo, Amanda Cooper, Dhara Ranasinghe and Karin
Strohecker in London and Lewis Krauskopf in New York.
1/ SHOW MUST GO ON
Media and consumer industry stocks take their turn at the
fore as another batch of U.S. results is set to land.
Walt Disney, which faces a proxy battle over board
representation, and News Corp, which scrapped a plan to reunite
with Fox Corp, are reporting on Wednesday and Thursday,
respectively, with the New York Times also up on Wednesday.
Earnings from PepsiCo and Kellogg on Thursday will offer
insight into how consumers are grappling with inflation. All
told, more than 90 S&P 500 companies are expected to post
results in coming days.
With 190 companies having reported, S&P 500 earnings are set
to have declined 2.4% in the fourth-quarter from a year ago - a
steeper fall than the 1.6% drop predicted on Jan. 1, according
to Refinitiv IBES.
2/ COMING CLEAN
Big Oil lived up to its nickname in 2022, as disruption of
supplies linked to Russia's Ukraine war and high prices
translated into big profits - a record $200 billion to be exact.
Shell reported a record $40 billion profit last
year. BP , TotalEnergies and Norwegian state
producer Equinor are all due in coming days - as are
"Big Renewables" including Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas and Germany's Siemens Energy .
Unlike their fossil-fuel counterparts, turbine and solar
panel makers have struggled to pass on higher input costs though
investors have yet to penalise them for that.
Over the last three years, the iShares Clean Energy
exchange-traded fund has risen by 120%, while the SPDR
S&P Oil & Gas ETF has gained just 12%. Oil and gas may
have won the sprint, but not the marathon.
3/ BALANCING ACT
Markets have bet on another quarter point rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday, but the economic backdrop is less clear cut than a week ago. Then inflation data stunned investors by shooting to a 33-year peak, defying the RBA's most aggressive tightening campaign in modern history. Macro readings shocked the other way as retail sales fell the most since the darkest pandemic days and house prices suffered their biggest drop since at least 1980. The Aussie dollar's outlook is untarnished: as long as China's reopening is on track, the currency should push higher. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India's inflation fight may be over, with economists projecting another quarter point hike on Wednesday and then a pause. 4/ RUN RALLY, RUN It was a stellar start to 2023 for markets - stocks and government bonds enjoyed one of the best Januaries on record, fuelled by optimism that the worst is over.
But will the bulls stay in charge?
Growth looking okay - tick; inflation slowing - tick; end to monetary tightening maybe in sight - tick. So far so good. January's metrics are key as they reflect how investors have set portfolios for the year ahead, though some reckon the month could mark no more than a spate of irrational complacency. So far, markets seem unafraid to take on central banks, betting on the prospect of a unison pause in monetary tightening that could emerge later in the year - even though policy-makers have yet to make that promise. German inflation and U.S. preliminary jobless and consumer confidence data could provide more direction for markets.
5/ SPEAK MY LINGO And even if markets choose to ignore central bankers for now that doesn't mean they won't listen to what officials say. ECB policy-makers Peter Kazimir and Klaas Knot and the Bank of Canada's Tiff Macklem speak in coming days. Jubilant markets - U.S. Treasury yields are down 50 bps so far this year - means a loosening of financial conditions that can undo some of the rate hikes. That's not good for a central bank, nor is the idea that their communication is ineffective. After all, what happens in markets, especially government bonds, ripples out to the broader economy.
With markets pricing in U.S. and European rate cuts by the year-end, central bankers are only too aware of the communication challenge they face.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ U.S. corporate earnings - Q4 2022 Extraordinary profits Taming inflation Nicely surprised Developed markets interest rates ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Compiled by Karin Strohecker; Additional reporting by Naomi Rovnick, Graphics by Vincent Flasseur, Vineet Sachdev and Kripa Jayaram; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
karin.strohecker.reuters.com@reuters.net))