Muted Start Seen in Asia in Holiday Hit Trading: Markets Wrap

Cormac Mullen, Bloomberg News

An investor stands at a trading terminal in front of electronic stock boards at a securities brokerage in Shanghai, China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Asia are set for a muted start Monday as the Easter holiday weekend continued in many countries. The dollar was steady.

Futures were little changed in Japan and China, after the MSCI Asia Pacific gained last week. U.S. contracts were flat. The euro edged lower, while oil futures climbed. Traders will look to a week full of corporate earnings releases, in particular from the technology sector. Investors will also turn their focus to the U.S. economy, with first quarter gross domestic product data due on Friday.

With corporate reporting season in full flow, investors are looking for clues to decide if the dovish policy pivot from the world’s central banks can shore up global growth enough to overlook earnings that are expected to contract. For now, the stock market is saying yes, with the MSCI AC World Index on track for a fourth month of gains in April.

Here are some notable events coming up:

A Who’s Who of the tech world reports this week, with Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft among the heavy hitters on tap. European bank earnings kick into full gear with reports from Deutsche Bank, UBS, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Swedbank
The Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, Bank of Russia, Sweden’s Riksbank and Bank of Indonesia set monetary policy
Germany’s IFO data is released Wednesday
Japan’s Shinzo Abe meets leaders of the European Union Thursday before flying to the U.S. for a summit with President Donald Trump
The initial print on first-quarter U.S. GDP Friday will be closely watched for clues as to how the economy responded to the government shutdown and fallout from to the fourth-quarter market rout

These are the main market moves:

Stocks

Nikkei 225 futures fell less than 0.1 percent.
FTSE China A50 shares rose 0.1 percent.
The MSCI Asia Pacific rose 0.4 percent last week.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed Friday.
The yen was steady at 111.92 per dollar.
The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.1239.
The offshore yuan was little changed to 6.7044 per dollar.
The British pound was steady at $1.2988.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped three basis points Thursday to 2.56 percent.
The 10-year JGB yield rose less than one basis point to minus 0.03 percent Friday.

Commodities