Chinese economy, war and data from Europe in the spotlight

The starting week should bring an improvement in sentiment in the stock markets, and in other markets it will be the second, more calmer week, after very large volatility at the end of April and at the beginning of May.

Monday morning brings an improvement in sentiment in the stock markets, a weakening of the US dollar, as well as an increase in oil, gold and Bitcoin. What will be absorbing investors' attention this week?

Investors got a balance

It seems that after the last quite nervous period, investors already in the previous week caught a certain balance (except for those from Wall Street, where emotions were extremely high, and on Wednesday the US indices had their worst session in 2 years) and in the near future the volatility in the markets will be lower . Also on stock exchanges. Especially that the calendar lacks really important macroeconomic publications that could shock investors. These will only come back in the last two days of May and the first day of June, when there will be an outflow of inflation data from Europe, which will set expectations for the meeting scheduled for June 9 European Central Bankwhile having a large impact on the situation on European stock exchanges and on the quotation of the single currency.

What will Christine Lagarde say?

There will be no very important data, but this does not mean that the market calendar is empty. And so today you should pay attention to the May reading the Ifo index for Germany, and locally on the data on retail sales and construction and assembly production in Poland, published today at 10:00. On Tuesday, a whole group of preliminary PMI readings for the month of May will be published, showing the economic situation from Japan, through the largest European economies, and ending with the USA. Also on this day is one of Christine Lagarde's (ECB) two appearances this week. On Wednesday, the decision on interest rates will be made by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, but the market's attention will focus primarily on the Fed's minutes. The most important item on Thursday is the publication of revised US GDP data for QXNUMX, and on Friday about American spending and income.

China's economy more important than war?

In addition to the above-mentioned events, two topics should be observed all the time, which, even if they subside for a moment, remain key from the point of view of financial markets. Namely, the developments in Ukraine and reports from the Chinese economy. With the only distinction that all information from China may turn out to be important (lockdowns, the number of Covid19 cases, the actions of the authorities regarding the economy), while in the event of a war only those that will give hope for its immediate end or in a diametrical way will count. they will change the balance of forces. One more event that made its presence felt last week can be added to this catalog of "other" events. Namely cases monkey pox in Europe and the USA. However, it must be clearly emphasized here that this is not yet a market topic and perhaps it will never become so. However, you should watch him.