A look at what U.S. financial markets have their eye on in the week ahead.
- Monday: That antitrust case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games over how much Apple’s App Store charges developers is scheduled to begin trial by a federal judge. The implications are massive and could provide plenty of fodder for all the critics of Big Tech who want to see more antitrust scrutiny of their business practices. As for earnings that Monday Look for cosmetic company Estee Lauder and fertilizer maker Mosaic. Economic data include U.S. construction spending and ISM manufacturing. And with the fed meeting out of the way and the normal quiet period restrictions no more, Members of the FOMC are in chatty mood this week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Monday joins HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, and Senator Elizabeth Warren at an event sponsored by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition
- Tuesday: More Fed speak. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will take part in a Q&A moderated by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari. Earnings that day include Lyft, Pfizer, ConocoPhillips, CVS Health Corp; Virgin Galactic; Activision Blizzard; and private equity firm Apollo with it first earnings report since Leon Black said he would step back as both CEO and chairman. Economic Data that day include U.S. Trade Balance, Factory Orders and Durable Goods.
- Wednesday. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks at an event hosted by Bard College, while Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks to the Boston Economic Club. Earnings that day include Uber; GM; PayPal, Etsy; and Hilton Worldwide. Economic data include Markit PMIs and ISM Services Index.
- Thursday: Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speaks at Bard College in New York. EarningS include Moderna, Square; Peloton, Wayfair and TripAdvisor. And the main economic data includes weekly jobless Claims.
- Friday. Earnings will be light with Cigna one of the few notables reporting that day. Most Attention will be on the big economic data. The April U.S. jobs report. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg on average expect a second straight month of gains exceeding 900,000, while the unemployment RATE is seen falling below 6%. Still the to be sure here is that even with an almost 1 million increase in April employment, payrolls will be about 7 million shy of their pre-pandemic level. But let’s end on a bright note. Another signal of a return to normalcy.
Finally, the Frieze New York art fair returns this week. It will be the first major in-person art fair in New York since the Armory show in March 2020. And it will be one of the first major convention-style events to bring out-of-towners into the city since the pandemic. Frieze will open to VIPs on Wednesday May 5 and to everyone else on Thursday afternoon May 6, It runs through Sunday May 9.
I’m Romaine Bostick and that’s a look at the week ahead