Key Events In The Coming Busy Week: US GDP; ECB & BOJ Meetings, And Lots Of Earnings

The key economic releases this week are the durable goods report on Thursday and Q1 GDP on Friday.  It iweek is the busiest week of earnings season, with 40%  of S&P 500 equity cap reporting. In addition, there are a few scheduled speaking engagements by Fed officials this week. 

Further, as SocGen notes, this week, markets will digest the French election results, with data releases focusing on the strength of the euro area recovery. The ECB may signal upside risks to near-term growth ahead of higher core inflation on Friday. EU leaders will meet to adopt Brexit negotiation guidelines. In the US, softer 1Q GDP data will be scrutinized, while rising inflation in the UK may have a longer term impact on growth. In Asia, GDP data should be boosted by net exports while the BoJ may upgrade it economic assessment.

United States: Q1 GDP likely to show weak growth

This week, consensus expects broadly unchanged new home sales as well as subdued business investment (ex aircraft orders). Most of the focus will be on Friday’s Q1 GDP where the Atlanta Fed expects growth to tumble to just 0.5%. Still, the Fed (and markets) is used to softness in Q1 growth that at least in the past has snapped back in the second half. Lastly, a one- or two-week bill looks likely to keep the government open past the Friday deadline, giving Congress a bit more time to work on a longer-term deal.

Euro area: ECB to acknowledge upside risks to near-term growth.

While markets will digest the French election results, the ECB will likely acknowledge upside risks to growth in 1H on Thursday while remaining on hold. Both headline and core inflation should recover by two-tenths on Friday, while the first 1Q GDP estimates for France (0.2% qoq) and Spain (0.7%) will give an early indication for the euro area (next Wednesday). Both the EC confidence indicators and the German Ifo will probably moderate but are expected to remain high. A special summit of EU-27 leaders (Saturday) will set the guidelines for the EU in the upcoming negotiations with the UK.

Asia Pacific: Solid 1Q GDP gains in Korea and Taiwan; BoJ may upgrade assessment

First quarter GDP data from South Korea and Taiwan are likely to have been boosted by net trade, as suggested by the strong external trade recovery across the region. The BoJ is widely expected to maintain its current policy stance and make no meaningful changes to its economic forecasts, but may upgrade its assessment of the economy. In Australia, annual rates of headline and core inflation are likely to have moved up, but not quite into target.

JPM lays out the Calendar of events to watch for in the week of Mon Apr 24

• The big focus this week will be on earnings (the week of 4/24 is the peak of the CQ1 season), central banks (decisions from the BOJ and ECB), Eurozone eco data (Eurozone Arp CPI on Friday 4/28), US eco data (Q1 US GDP and ECI both hit Fri 4/28), and US gov’t funding (legislation to fund the gov’t expires on Apr 28 – a shutdown is considered unlikely).
• Calendar for Mon Apr 24 – the main focus on Mon will be earnings (HAL, HAS, ITW KMB, LII, and TCB pre-open and AA, AMP, CCI, CDNS, CR, ESRX, NEM, RE, RMBS, RRC, SANM, TMUS, UDR, WHR, WNC, WRB, and ZION after the close). 
• Calendar for Tues Apr 25 – the main focus will be on US FHFA/Case-Shiller home prices for Feb (9amET), US new home sales for Mar (10amET), US conf. board confidence figures for Apr (10amET), and earnings (AKS, AN, BHI, BIIB, CAT, CIT, CNC, DD, Ericsson, FCX, FITB, GLW, KO, LH, LLY, LMT, MAS, MCD, MMM, NLSN, Novartis, NTRS, OI, PCAR, PHM, PNR, R, SAP, SPGI, ST, TROW, TRU, TUP, VLO, WAT, WSO, and XRX pre-open and ARNC, BHP, BXP, CB, CENX, CHRW, CMG, COF, CREE, DFS, EQR, EW, ILMN, JNPR, SYK, T, TSS, TXN, UHS, and ULTI after the close).
• Calendar for Wed Apr 26 – the main focus will be on earnings (ALK, ANTM, APH, AVY, BA, BAX, Credit Suisse, Daimler, DPS, GD, HES, HSY, IR, NDAQ, NSC, PEP, PG, ROK, Santander, Standard Chartered, STT, STX, TEL, TWTR, UTX, X, WRK, and WYN pre-open and AMGN, AVB, CAVM, EQIX, FFIV, FISV, KIM, MAA, NOW, NTGR, ORLY, PYPL, SAM, UNM, VAR, XL, and XLNX after the close).
• Calendar for Thurs Apr 27 – the main focus will be on central banks (BOJ, Riksbank, and ECB decisions), China industrial profits for Mar (Wed night/Thurs morning), US advanced goods trade balance for Mar and durable goods for Mar (8:30amET), US pending home sales for Mar (10amET), the expiration of the FCC anti-collusion rules (related to the recent spectrum auction), Trump’s press conf., and earnings (ABBV, Airbus, ALLE, ALLY, AMT, APD, BASF, BMY, BSX, CBG, CELG, CMCSA, CME, Deutsche Bank, DOW, F, IP, IVZ, JCI, LAZ, LLL, LUV, MMC, MPC, Nokia, NOV, POT, PX, Roche, RS, SIRI, SPG, STM, UAA, UNP, UPS, USG, VC, WCC, and ZBH pre-open and AFL, AIV, AMZN, BIDU, CERN, ESS, EXPE, FLEX, FTNT, GOOGL, GPRO, HIG, INTC, KLAC, LPLA, MHK, MSFT, PFG, Samsung Electronics, SBUX, SWKS, SYNA, VRSN, VRTX, and WDC after the close).
• Calendar for Fri Apr 28 – the main focus will be on Eurozone eco data (including Eurozone Apr CPI at 5amET), US Q1 GDP and ECI (8:30amET), US Chicago PMI for Apr (9:45amET), Michigan Sentiment for Apr (10amET), and earnings (CL, CVX, GM, GT, HST, LYB, PSX, SYF, VFC, WY, and XOM pre-open).

Global Economics Calendar: Week of Mon April 24th, also via JPM

• Monday, April 24th: US (Chicago./Dallas Fed Indices); Eurozone (Germany IFO Current Assessment, UK CBI Business Optimism); Other (Taiwan Unemployment Rate, Japan Leading/Coincident Index, Taiwan Industrial production, Taiwan Money Supply, China Conference Board China March Leading Economic Index, Japan PPI Services)
• Tuesday, April 25th: US (FHFA House Price Index, S&P/CoreLogic 20-City HPI, New Home Sales, Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, Richmond Fed); Eurozone (France Business Confidence, Spain PPI, ECB Bank Lending Survey, UK Public Finances, Euro Area Fourth Quarter Government Debt); Other (Hong Kong Trade Balance)
• Wednesday, April 26th: US (MBA Mortgage Applications); Eurozone (France Consumer Confidence, Spain Total Mortgage Lending, France Jobseekers); Other (Japan All Industry Activity Index, Japan Machine Tool Orders, Japan Buying/Selling Foreign Stocks/Bonds, China Swift Global Payments, China Industrial Profits, BOJ 10-Yr Yield Target, BOJ Policy Balance Rate)
• Thursday, April 27th: US (Advance Goods Trade Balance, Wholesale/Retail Inventories, Durable Goods Orders, Jobless Claims, Pending Home Sales, Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index); Eurozone (Germany GfK Consumer Confidence, Spain Unemployment Rate, Spain CPI, Germany CPI, Italy Economic Sentiment, Eurozone Economic Confidence, ECB Main Refinancing Rate, ECB Asset Purchase Target, UK GfK Consumer Confidence, Spain Budget Balance); Other (Taiwan Monitoring Indicator, Taiwan Bounced Check Ratio, Japan Jobless Rate, Japan National CPI, Japan Industrial Production, Japan Retail Sales)
• Friday, April 28th: US (Employment Cost Index, GDP Annualized, Core PCE, Chicago PMI, University of Michigan Survey); Eurozone (France GDP, France CPI, Eurozone M3 Money Supply, Spain GDP, Spain Retail Sales, UK GDP, Eurozone CPI, Italy PPI, , UK Nationwide House Prices); Other (Japan Vehicle Production, Japan Housing Starts)

A look at the upcoming busiest week of Q1 earning season:

The CQ1 season isn’t even half over although several important companies posted numbers over the last 1.5 weeks.  As is the case with any given earnings period, the most “important” sectors from the perspective of the macro narrative are banks, semis, capital goods, and credit cards.  The US bank season is nearly over and numbers were pretty healthy, esp. relative to reduced expectations.  Loan growth wasn’t as bad as the weekly Fed data suggested, NII/NIM was inline-to-better, expenses and credit remain under control (there were some pockets of credit deterioration but nothing that suggests a broader systemic problem), and trading was healthy (the one notable exception was GS which badly lagged its peers in FICC; GS mgmt. didn’t sound concerned and cited the latter two letters, i.e. currencies and commodities, for the shortfall).  At the moment for bank stocks the direction of TSY yields (and the shape of the curve) is having a greater influence than earnings.  In semis only a handful of companies reported but the early results are solid, esp. semi equipment (ASML and LRCX).  MXIM’s report Thurs night was more controversial – the headline income statement figures were solid for Mar actuals and June guide but mgmt. on the call acknowledged some softness in the US auto market (although MXIM really wasn’t outright negative on autos and while SAAR is drifting lower the amount of silicon per unit continues to experience strong growth).  The initial indications from the capital goods companies w/DOV, GE, and HON all posting healthy organic growth (both revs and orders) while Eurozone reports were decent too (Schneider, ABB, etc.).  GE was controversial as very strong orders and income statement numbers were offset by very weak cash flow.  GWW was the one notable disappointment within the industrial space although the problem was competition/pricing (and not necessarily end-market demand).  The best sector for assessing the health of “the consumer” isn’t retail but instead the credit cards (the key is the amount of card swipes, not where those swipes are occurring) and numbers out of that group so far in CQ1 have been positive (w/upside reports out of AXP and V/Visa).  Other earnings highlights over the last week include CSX (solid Q and Hunter Harrison provided positive guidance), IBM (pretty weak all around w/soft revs and margin downside), EBAY (decent Q1 but weaker Q2 guide), NFLX (some noise w/Q1 subs light and better Q2 guide but the H1 numbers in aggregate were about inline), and VZ (the big focus was the very weak subscriber metrics; the sub results would have been even worse had VZ not unveiled its unlimited data plans in the middle of the Q).

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Finally, a focus just on US events in the coming week, together with consensus and Goldman estimates

Monday, April 24

• 10:30 AM Dallas Fed manufacturing index, April (consensus +17.0, last +16.9)
• 11:30 AM Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari (FOMC voter) speaks: Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari will give the keynote speech at the 6th Annual Fink Investing Conference at UCLA in California. Audience Q&A is expected.
• 03:15 PM Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari (FOMC voter) speaks: Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari will participate in a moderated discussion at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont. Audience Q&A is expected.

Tuesday, April 25

• 09:00 AM S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, February (GS +1.1%, consensus +0.7%, last +0.9%): We expect the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index to rise 1.1% in the February report following a 0.9% increase in the prior month. The measure still appears to be influenced by seasonal adjustment challenges, and we place more weight on the year-over-year increase, which rose to 5.7% from 5.5% in January.
• 09:00 AM FHFA house price index, February (consensus +0.4%, last flat): Consensus expects the FHFA house price index to rise 0.4% (mom sa) in February, after a flat reading in January. The FHFA house price index has a wider geographic coverage than the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, but is based only on properties financed with conforming mortgages. On a year-over-year basis, FHFA home prices rose 5.7% in January, down from 6.2% in December.
• 10:00 AM New home sales, March (GS -2.0%, consensus -1.4%, last +6.1%): We expect new home sales to fall 2.0% in March, retracing some of its 6.1% February increase, as we expect the negative impact of Winter Storm Stella in the Midwest and Northeast to be partially offset by a favorable fundamental backdrop and an elevated level of single-family building permits.
• 10:00 AM Conference Board consumer confidence, April (GS 121.0, consensus 123.0, last 125.6): We forecast that consumer confidence declined 4.6pt to 121.0 in April from the cycle high in March. Our forecast reflects some sequential deterioration in consumer surveys in late March and early April, as well as recent stock market weakness.
• 10:00 AM Richmond Fed manufacturing index, March (consensus +16, last +22)

Wednesday, April 26

• There are no major data releases.

Thursday, April 27

• 08:30 AM U.S. Census Bureau Advance Economic Indicators Report: Advance goods trade balance, March preliminary (GS -$65.9bn, consensus -$65.4bn, last -$63.9bn); We estimate the goods trade deficit widened $2.0bn to $65.9bn in March, following February’s sharp narrowing that we believe reflected a pronounced impact from the relatively early Chinese New Year, which likely shifted the timing of imports from February to January. Based on our expectation of a partial reversal of these effects as well as a (likely related) sharp rebound in March inbound container traffic, we expect renewed deterioration in the trade balance. At the same time, lower March oil prices should reduce the nominal petroleum deficit, providing a partial offset.
• 08:30 AM Wholesale inventories, March preliminary (consensus +0.3%, last +0.4%); 08:30 AM Durable goods orders, March preliminary (GS +2.1%, consensus +1.3%, last +1.8%) ; Durable goods orders ex-transportation, March preliminary (GS +0.4%, consensus +0.4%, last +0.5%); Core capital goods orders, March preliminary (GS +0.5%, consensus +0.5%, last -0.1%); Core capital goods shipments, March preliminary (GS -0.1%, consensus +0.2%, last +1.0%): We estimate durable goods orders rose 2.1% in March, driven by higher non-defense aircraft orders indicated by stronger company-reported data. We believe the details of the report are likely to be mixed. Manufacturing production was soft in March, exhibiting a 0.2% pullback in ex-auto manufacturing and a 0.4% drop in the capex-sensitive business equipment category. Chinese New Year effects may also weigh on core capital goods shipments growth, to the extent that they boosted the February level. At the same time, capital goods company results and commentary have been encouraging, with mounting evidence of accelerating growth in the industrial economy. Accordingly, we estimate softer shipments, but firmer orders in March, with month-to-month growth rates of -0.1% and +0.5%, respectively. We estimate durable goods orders ex-transportation rose 0.4%.
• 08:30 AM Initial jobless claims, week ended April 22 (GS 245k, consensus 243k, last 244k); Continuing jobless claims, week ended April 15 (consensus 2,010k, last 1,979k): We estimate initial jobless claims edged up 1k to 245k. Claims have returned to normal levels following two weeks of temporary elevation in mid-to-late March that likely reflected the impact of Winter Storm Stella. Continuing claims – the number of persons receiving benefits through standard programs – have continued to trend down in recent months, suggestive of additional labor market improvement that we expect to continue.
• 10:00 AM Pending home sales, March (GS +0.5%, consensus -1.0%, last +5.5%): Regional housing data released so far suggest the improvement in February contract signings continued into March, despite unseasonably cold temperatures and above-average snowfall. We expect a 0.5% increase in the pending homes sales index, adding to the 5.5% increase in the prior month. Stable-to-higher March pending homes sales would be particularly encouraging in the context of higher mortgage rates, which incidentally have declined so far in April after reaching a two-year high in mid-March. We have found pending home sales to be a useful leading indicator of existing home sales with a one- to two-month lag.
• 11:00 AM Kansas City Fed manufacturing index, April (consensus +16, last +20)

Friday, April 28

• 08:30 AM GDP (advance), Q1 (GS +1.4%, consensus +1.1%, last +2.1%); Personal consumption, Q4 (GS +1.3%, consensus +0.9%, last +3.5%): We expect a +1.4% increase in the first vintage of Q1 GDP (qoq saar), driven by a double-digit increase in residential investment (+12.6%) and a robust pace of growth in business fixed investment (+6.9%), partially offset by a negative growth contribution from inventory investment (-0.7pp) and net exports (-0.1pp). Accordingly, our growth estimate for the domestic final sales component is somewhat firmer at +2.1%. We look for real personal consumption to rise 1.3%, aided by a late-quarter boost to utilities consumption that reflects the impact of unseasonably cold weather in March.
• 08:30 AM Employment cost index, Q1 (GS +0.7%, consensus +0.6%, last +0.5%); We estimate that growth in the Employment Cost Index (ECI) accelerated to 0.7% in Q1 (qoq sa) from 0.5% in Q4, with the year-over-year pace rising to 2.3% (from 2.2%). Our forecast mainly reflects firming wage growth in an economy at or near full employment. The ECI rose a softer-than-expected 0.5% in the fourth quarter, and the headline measure appears to have overshot to the downside relative to underlying wage growth in the ECI sample. Wages and salaries excluding incentive-paid occupations actually firmed last quarter, rising 2.5% year over year vs. 2.4% in Q3. This suggests some scope for the gap to close (or overshoot in the other direction) in Q1. Relatedly, we see scope for improving wage growth in sales and related occupations and in the administrative and support services industries, where wages and salaries exhibited rare outright declines last quarter.  Wage growth data has generally been stable-to-higher so far in 2017, most notably the Atlanta Fed wage tracker, which rose to 3.4% year over year in March. Our broader Q1 wage tracker rose 2.9% year over year in Q1, up from 2.8% in Q4 and compared to the Q4 ECI of +2.2% (yoy). Taken together, our base case expectation is that growth in the Employment Cost Index will round up to +0.7%.
• 09:45 AM Chicago PMI, April (GS 57.0, consensus 56.5, last 57.7): We expect the Chicago PMI to decrease to 57.0 in April after the index edged up to 57.7 in March. Despite expected sequential softness, the index is likely to remain at a level consistent with growth in the manufacturing sector, in line with the reports of other regional manufacturing surveys in April.
• 10:00 AM University of Michigan consumer sentiment, April final (GS 97.5, consensus 98.0, last 98.0): We expect the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index to pull back 0.5pt to 97.5 in the April final estimate, reflecting some sequential deterioration in April consumer surveys. The preliminary report’s measure of 5- to 10-year ahead inflation expectations was unchanged at 2.4%. With gas prices rebounding in April, the related technical drag on reported inflation expectations should be limited.
• 01:15 PM Fed Governor Brainard (FOMC voter) speaks: Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will give a speech on “Fintech and the Future of Finance” at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois. Audience Q&A is expected.
• 02:30 Philadelphia Fed President Harker (FOMC voter) speaks: Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker will give a speech on “How STEM Can Get You Anywhere” at the X-STEM Symposium in Washington D.C. Audience Q&A is expected.

Source: JPM, Goldman, SocGen