Weekly Outlook: Apr 24 – 28; First Round of French Elections Done; ECB & BoJ Policy Meetings

The first round of the French elections ended yesterday with strong impact in the market. The euro versus the G10 basket and French CAC 40 index opened with a strong gap-up. Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won 23.9% of the votes while far-right leader Marine Le Pen secured 21.4% as widely expected and they are headed for a run-off on May 7.
The first days of this week will be very quiet in terms of economic indicators, however, there are a lot of important announcements in the second half of the week. European Central Bank and Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decisions and will be keenly eyed. U.K. and U.S. will release their preliminary GDP growths for Q1 2017.
The week starts quietly with German IFO Survey in the morning. Business expectations in April are expected to show a small increase to 106.0 from 105.7 while business climate is forecasted to remain unchanged at 112.3. On the other hand, the IFO current assessment will probably edge lower to 119.00 from 119.3 as per market consensus. German Buba monthly report will be published, while FOMC member Neel Kashkari has two scheduled speeches.
On Tuesday morning, volatility will be thin as no market driver news are expected from the European countries. U.K. public sector net borrowing will be released, while on the second half of the day, attention will be paid to U.S. housing market releases. S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices for February is coming out as well as the new home sales for March. Overnight, Australia will publish its CPI for the first quarter. Consumer prices are predicted that rose by 2.2% the first three months of the year versus a rise of 1.5% the months October to December of 2016.
Read the full article on JFD Research.

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