Michael Ford

US earnings, German politics and the ECB meeting are all in focus

This is a busy week for US earnings, with 20% of S&P 500 Index market capitalisation reporting and a focus on large healthcare and industrial bellwethers.

We will continue to monitor management guidance on the impact of tax reform on effective tax rates.

The Bank of Japan and the ECB are meeting to set monetary policy.

No change in policy is expected from either, although the ECB might signal that it is preparing to amend the language on its quantitative easing programme at its next meeting in March.

n terms of the economic data to be released, the highlights will be the eurozone flash purchasing managers’ indices, Japanese inflation, US GDP, US durable goods and UK GDP.

Germany’s Social Democrats voted yesterday on whether to pursue formal talks with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union-led bloc on forming a government.

Elsewhere, the sixth round of the North American Free Trade Arrangement talks is also getting under way as US President Trump continues to reiterate his threat to pull out. Finally on politics, negotiations on a US government funding bill could well continue this week if the Senate fails to pass the stopgap bill passed by the House last week.

 By Michael Ford, Portfolio Manager in the Multi-Asset Group at Insight Investment

The post Thoughts on the week ahead Michael Ford – for week commencing January 22, 2018 appeared first on AdviserVoice.