Monday Briefing – 30th May 2022

Highlights

• Equity markets logged strong gains last week, with the S&P 500 notching its first weekly gain Since April 1st, and the Dow recording its first in nine weeks, challenging the view that the US economy is on a one-way road to recession
• Upbeat forecasts from Macy’s, Nordstrom and Ralph Lauren bolstered confidence over resilient consumer spending
• Broadcom announced plans to buy VMware in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $61billion, one of the largest technology acquisitions of all time (behind Microsoft’s pending deal on Activision Blizzard and Dell’s purchase of EMC in 2016)
• The release of the May Fed meeting minutes, while containing few surprises, cheered investors as they digested less-hawkish-than-feared tone of the report
• ECB’s Lagarde made her first explicit call for interest rate increase and the exit of negative interest rates by the end of Q3
• This week, both growth and inflation will be top of mind for investors with the US monthly jobs report and several CPIs from Europe

Economic Calendar

Monday – Germany import prices (April). Spain Inflation (Preliminary, May). Eurozone Economic Sentiment and Consumer Confidence (May). Germany Inflation (Preliminary, May). Japan Unemployment, Retail Sales and Industrial Production (April).

Tuesday – China NBS PMI (May). Japan Consumer Confidence (May). Germany Unemployment (May). France GDP Growth (Final, Q1), Household Consumption (April), PPI (April). Italy GDP Growth (Final, Q1). Eurozone Inflation (Flash, May). US Home Price Index (March), Conference Board Consumer Confidence (May).

Wednesday – China Caixin Manufacturing PMI (May). Germany Retail Sales (April). Eurozone, UK, US, Japan Manufacturing PMI (May). Eurozone Unemployment (April). US JOLTs Job Openings (April), ISM Manufacturing PMI (May).

Thursday – Eurozone PPI (April). US ADP Employment Change (May), Factory Orders (April), Weekly Jobless Claims. OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting.

Friday – Japan, EU, US, UK Composite PMI (Final, May). Germany Balance of Trade (April). France Industrial Production (April). Eurozone Retail Sales (April). US Unemployment and Non-Farm Payrolls (May), ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (May).