Market News

The first big wave of earnings reports is expected in the week ahead, with major banks and financials releasing numbers for the past quarter.

After Janet Yellen’s dovish tones surprised at the last Fed policy decision, yesterday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s policy protocols from the March meeting might have given some hawkish bulls reason to believe that a summer rate hike was still on the table.

Chinese investors, for the first time, used the entire 10.5 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) daily quota in a cross-border program buying Hong Kong stocks, boosting turnover under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect to a record.

After a rally which pushed the US Dollar close to a 3-week peak versus the Japanese Yen, the US Dollar retreated after the news that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said it intended to maintain the status quo even in spite of slowing inflation.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Wednesday kept its massive monetary stimulus intact, as widely expected, emphasizing the fact that the world's number three economy is recovering moderately.

Oil surged more than 6 percent Monday, and helped boost the stock market as the S&P energy sector jumped 1.8 percent.

Following the release last Friday of an unexpectedly dismal jobs report from the US Department of Labor, the US Dollar had initially been under heavy pressure.

The weather may be warming up but economists are not quite certain how the markets are headed. Some see an increase in consumer confidence and a healthier housing market as a sign of a rebound in growth and hiring.

This week opens quietly, with most of Europe and the Western world on holiday, with the exception of the U.S.A. and Canada. Following the holiday, it should be a fairly significant week as it opens the month, as usual, with central bank statements and actions for the USD, JPY, GBP and AUD

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will meet International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in Washington on Sunday to discuss a set of planned reforms that Athens hopes will unlock much-needed bailout funds.

Despite the geopolitical turmoil in the rest of the Middle East, Israel's stock market continues to be a stellar outperformer.

Disappointing economic data out of the US which showed a decline in the key manufacturing sector hinted of a possibly significant slowdown of the US economy during the first quarter.

The dollar nursed modest losses on Thursday, having suffered a setback on fresh signs that the U.S. economy slowed significantly in the first quarter a factor that could delay the Federal Reserve's decision to begin hiking interest rates.

The US Dollar edged lower in European trading after a disappointing Tankan survey, a report which shows business sentiment in Japan, which paradoxically gave the safe haven Japanese Yen a boost even as it weighed on Japanese equities.

Greece failed to reach an initial deal with the European Union and the IMF to unlock aid after the creditors dismissed a package of reforms from Athens as ideas rather than a concrete plan, officials said on Tuesday.