Now that Easter is over, what are the catalysts for global markets?

Good Morning,

Trust that you’ve had a great Easter break and are feeling relaxed and ready to go…

Another short week awaits… So lots to get done….

Just a reminder for our Sydney colleagues, we are part of the panel for the ASX Tech Event on Thursday 31st @ K&L Gates (1 O’Connell Street) at 5:30pm.

It would be great to see you there and catch up over a glass of wine and some nibbles..

For those interstate, we will try and record the event for you…. So keep a look out for it…

Ok… let’s talk markets…

As we expected, trading was extremely light in the US last night, so not much direction for our markets this morning…..

"It's Easter Monday, so the vast majority of Europe is closed, as is Hong Kong - that has things relatively quiet," said Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

"You have Yellen speaking tomorrow, then Dudley on Thursday and the big employment and ISM manufacturing numbers on Friday. There's really no impetus to get people to do something definitively before that data."

With investors scouring data, a report today showed personal spending barely increased in February and the prior month's advance was revised down as Americans saved more of their incomes.

So expect things to “heat up”, leading into US payrolls on Friday night….

In Oz, banks will once again be in focus, following ANZ’s revision to its bad debts…. Will this be a beginning of a trend?

What's on today

The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee publishes a statement from its March 23 meeting. Housing risks, bank capital and "Brexit" may have been among the topics discussed by the panel. 9.30am in London.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi begins a four-day visit to the US, stopping in Nevada, Chicago, Harvard University and Washington, where he will attend the Nuclear Security Summit. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan begins a five-day trip to US where he will attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

Overseas data: Japan household spending (Feb.), Japan unemployment (Feb.), Japan retail trade (Feb.), US S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index (Jan.), US consumer confidence (March)

Fed speakers: Janet Yellen at the Economic Club of New York, San Francisco Fed boss John Williams.

The SPI is down 12 points this morning.

Niv

Niv Dagan is an Executive Director of Melbourne based boutique funds management and corporate advisory firm, Peak Asset Management (www.peakassetmanagement.com.au). He is also a regular financial commentator on Sky Business.