The Business News Week Ahead

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday and the Bank of England on Thursday will anchor the coming week and though neither are expected to change policy settings, any hints on the timing of stimulus withdrawal could easily move the markets. The US employment report on Friday could also easily move the markets amid what are strongly optimistic expectations for an April jump in nonfarm payrolls that would match March's gain. Canada, which has posted outsized jumps in both February and March, will post its labour force survey also on Friday, while Switzerland, where employment has remained strong throughout the pandemic, will post its unemployment rate in what will be another Friday report.

Purchasing manager indexes will open the week in force on Monday: first manufacturing from both Korea and India, overall activity from Switzerland, then US manufacturing from the closely watched ISM. Germany will post manufacturing orders on Thursday and industrial production on Friday, neither of which have lived up to the country's record PMI showings. Consumer data will include German retail sales on Monday followed by Eurozone retail sales on Thursday. Inflation data will be limited to Wednesday with the Swiss CPI and Eurozone PPI. Also worth watching will be Canadian merchandise trade on Tuesday as well as French industrial production and the UK's construction PMI both on Friday.