Wall Street indices remained flat this morning ahead of a week packed with earnings reports, including tech giants, as well as economic data and central bank meetings.

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Wall Street struggled in early trading as investors are getting confused by the mixed economic data released in the past few days. It’s the usual conundrum: data showing that the economy and the job market are cooling fuels fear of recession but raises hopes of a dovish monetary policy from central banks. Data showing resilience in the economy raises hopes of a soft economic landing, but raises fears that inflation will linger for longer. 

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Volatility is easing. The optimists have something to cheer about, because these phases usually mean that the environment is normalizing. This is good news for equity markets, which do not like uncertainty. Those who find it particularly boring can always console themselves with the numerous corporate earnings releases, which always contain a few surprises. 

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The latest corporate results from big names were quite mixed, with Netflix posting a drop in earnings for the first quarter. Futures on the Dow Jones fell 0.3%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.8%.

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The attention of investors has turned to earnings reports as they look for new catalysts to keep the good momentum going on markets. Chinese growth could help, even if it raises some questions.

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Last week was pretty busy and the coming one promised to be just as hectic. The focus will be on companies as earnings season picks up pace. We won't escape monetary policy, with a whole set of speeches by central bankers on the week's agenda. There will be at least one per day from the Fed, the ECB, the BoE and the SNB. 

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Data published yesterday seems to confirm that both inflation and the job market are cooling in the US. Jobless claims climbed to 239K from 228K the previous week, while producer prices unexpectedly fell to 2.7% year-on-year in March from 4.6% in February. This is viewed as a positive signal towards a more dovish monetary policy by the Fed. The underlying momentum remains relatively fragile as earnings season starts.

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The long-awaited CPI figures were pretty much a flop yesterday, with a tiny rebound for 3 minutes, before indices lost their mojo and ended the session lower. Investors were not impressed because although data showed US inflation was slightly lower than expected in March, at 5% year-on-year - while 5.1% was expected by economists - core inflation was slightly higher than in February. This is in line with what was expected in this case, but it also shows that prices are still on the rise.

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Investors were eagerly awaiting March’s CPI data. which could influence the US interest rate path. Last week, US employment figures showed the job market is cooling, raising fears of recession, as well as hopes for a more dovish monetary policy.

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Wall Street reopened yesterday after the Easter weekend in a calm atmosphere. Data released last week shows initial jobless claims climbed more than anticipated, which raised fears of recession and a hard landing for the economy, but also increased expectations of rate cuts by the Fed.  Investors are aware of the current turmoil and are even prepared for a 0.25% hike by the US central bank in early May, but they are also already expecting a first rate cut as early as this year.

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