Key events this week include US and Chinese CPI, plus the monthly Chinese trade balance. UK data focuses on the employment report and the latest GDP figures, while we also get US retail sales
The US-China trade battle will again provide the backdrop too much of what takes place on the global markets. Over the weekend, Beijing upped the ante by saying it would establish a mechanism for export control of sensitive technology, as the tit-for-tat dispute with Washington expanded beyond simple tariffs.
UK gross domestic product figures are out on Monday. Fears of a no-deal Brexit led factories and stores to stockpile goods and materials in the first quarter, boosting the nation’s economic growth rate to 0.5 per cent.
Now that the deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU has been delayed until later this year, April’s figures could signal the end of that trend.
In the US, consumer price inflation data released on Wednesday could provide justification for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates, after last week’s weak US jobs growth figures further darkened the outlook for the world’s biggest economy.
Investors will also have data on retail sales and industrial production to parse. China is due to release reports on consumer and producer prices for May, as well as industrial production, retail sales and trade.
Other key reports include UK jobs, Canadian housing starts and Japanese GDP.