Busy Week for Economic Data & Earnings Begins With April 2012 China HSBC PMI Up, Hollande Wins First Round:
China HSBC PMI April 2012 Up
China started the week off Sunday with PMI data showing an improvement from the prior month. The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index, rose from 48.3 in 2012 to a reading of 49.1 in April 2012 slightly closer to the 50 level needed to signify an economic expansion. The economic news from China comes right after a lower than expected GDP reading of 8.1 last week and shows the country could indeed be landing softly.
Earnings and economics data will be in the spotlight this week with more major companies reporting earnings along with key important data on housing as well as a Federal Open Market Committee interest rate decision.
Here are the top U.S. economic data points to we will be watching next week.
| 24-Apr | 9:00 AM | Case-Shiller 20-city Index | February 2012 |
| 24-Apr | 10:00 AM | Consumer Confidence | April 2012 |
| 24-Apr | 10:00 AM | New Home Sales | March 2012 |
| 25-Apr | 8:30 AM | Durable Orders | March 2012 |
| 25-Apr | 12:30 PM | FOMC Rate Decision | April 2012 |
| 26-Apr | 8:30 AM | Initial Claims | Week Ended 21-Apr |
| 26-Apr | 10:00 AM | Pending Home Sales | March 2012 |
| 27-Apr | 8:30 AM | GDP-Adv. | Q1 2012 |
| 27-Apr | 9:55 AM | Michigan Sentiment – Final | April 2012 |
First Quarter 2012 Earnings News Didn’t Disappoint
Most earnings news has been positive so far with more than 75 percent of companies that reported coming in with better than expected earnings with leaves Europe as the most significant headline risk now that China shows signs of stabilization.
Francois Hollande Wins First Round Of French Presidential Elections
Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande has won the first round of the French presidential elections in a move that wasn’t a surprise to many political analysts. He will face President Nicolas Sarkozy on May 6 and the short-term reaction to this may be somewhat muted until the final result. Hollande has been running a populist campaign that resonates with French citizens and the Eurozone at large.
A serving French president has never been defeated in a first round vote and this result follows changes that have been occurring all across the Europe in terms of political economy. We will be monitoring headlines from Europe closely to see if they have an impact on U.S. equities but the correlation has decreased since the heightened levels in 2011.
