The Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday announced the development of the Main Street Lending Program in its effort to support the economy. The program will aid the flow of credit to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that were in a sound financial state before COVID19. About $75 billion will be provided for the program utilising funds from CARES. 

Crude oil traded bullish this week as reports emerged that the storage facilities in the United States would not fill up as quickly as previously anticipated. The commodity was further supported by the news that Norway has joined the international efforts to curb supply. Norway is the biggest oil producer in Western Europe and is teaming up with OPEC+ for the first time in almost 20 years. Oil prices had crashed in the preceding weeks by reports across the globe of storage facilities reaching their capacity and with OPEC+ agreement kicking off this month, there is room for further gains on the commodity. 

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) took some key monetary policy decisions at their meeting this week. The bank further eased the conditions on the targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) with a lower interest rate and also launched a new series of non-targeted pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations (PELTROs) to aid liquidity in the zone. The President of the Bank, Christine Lagarde during her press conference gave an assurance of her full commitment to doing everything necessary to support the Bloc’s economy as she was optimistic of the recovery of the zone’s economic growth by 2021. 

The wave of economic pain continues in the US as another 3.8M individual filed for Jobless insurance for the week ended on the 25th of April. This week’s data bring the 6-weeks rolling data to 30.3M Americans. The surge in Unemployment is a direct result of the lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the novel virus and has now thrown the US into the worst employment crisis in history. 

With this in mind, let's have a look at events that will further impact the direction of the financial market next week. 

Monday 4th May

No major economic data expected on this day. 

Tuesday 5th April

AUD: The Reserve Bank of Australia will make available to the public the Official Cash Rate (the interest rate at which banks lend balances held at the RBA) by 5:30 am. The easing bias from the bank was neutral at the last meeting and a repeat is envisaged at this meeting. Australia’s economy is envisaged to benefit from the easing of lockdown in China as the country earns a large chunk of her foreign exchange from Iron ore to China. The easing of the lockdown in Australia will also boost economic activity and set the country on its way to recovery. If the bank keeps rate constant and the statement sounds hawkish the Aussie is envisaged to regain some lost ground against other major currencies. 

EUR: German Constitutional Court Ruling is tentatively slated for Tuesday. The German Federal Constitutional Court is due to announce a ruling regarding the constitutionality of the ECB's Asset Purchase Programme, in Karlsruhe. 

GBP: Final Services PMI by 9:30 am 

EUR: EU Economic Forecasts is tentatively slated for Tuesday. The forecasts serve as the European Commission's basis for evaluating economic performance and trends of EU member states concerning potential austerity measures and other forced spending cuts.

CAD: Trade Balance will be released by Statistics Canada by 1:30 pm. It measures the difference between imported and exported goods. 

USD: ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI is scheduled to be released by the Institute for Supply Management by 3 pm.

NZD: Job data in the form of Employment Change q/q and Unemployment Rate will be released by Statistics New Zealand by 11:45 PM. The data is expected to capture the impact of the novel virus on New Zealand’s labour market in the first quarter of this year. 

Wednesday 6th April

USD: ADP Non-Farm Employment Change will be released by 1:15 pm. The US labour market has been under immense pressure in the last couple of weeks due to the impact of the lockdown on businesses.

Thursday 7th April 

AUD: Trade Balance from the Australian Bureau of Statistics by 2:30 am. A positive number indicates that more goods and services were exported than imported and is good for the Aussie. 

NZD: Inflation Expectations q/q to be released by Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). It measures the percentage that business managers expect the price of goods and services to change annually during the next 2 years. 

GBP: BOE Monetary Policy Report, MPC Official Bank Rate Votes, Monetary Policy Summary, and Official Bank Rate will be released by noon from the Bank of England.

USD: Unemployment Claims will be released by the Department of Labor by 1:30 PM. The labour market in the US has been severed in the last weeks at the number of individuals filing for insurance surged above 30M. With the easing of the lockdown in view, the economy is expected to gradually pick up on the way to total recovery. 

Friday 8th May

AUD: RBA Monetary Policy Statement by the Reserve Bank of Australia by 2:30 am. It is released quarterly and provides insight into the economic conditions of Australia from the Banks perspective

CAD: Employment Change and Unemployment Rate slated for 1:30 PM.

USD: Average Hourly Earnings m/m, Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate slated for 1:30 PM. These employment data are very crucial to the strength of the Greenback.

Time is GMT+1