On the schedule for today central bank officials from the ECB including Mersch, Weidmann and Constancio will be speaking. The Fed’s Bullard speaks today, and no doubt there will be interest in his comments from last week suggesting that the Fed will hike rates in early 2015.

 

On Tuesday, the Q1 reporting season unofficially kicks off with earnings from Alcoa. First-quarter earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to have increased about only 1.2% yoy according to Thomson Reuters data — that is down from earlier estimates of a circa 6% increase. Staying with tomorrow, the BoJ releases its latest Monetary Policy Statement and the expectation is that the central bank will keep its policy unchanged for the time being. In terms of data, UK industrial production will be the main focus. The ECB’s Weidmann speaks again and the Fed’s Kocherlakota and Plosser (both voters) will be giving speeches.