Tech earnings to dominate market sentiment following Easter break

Following the Easter Break, market sentiment looks set to be dominated by the fortunes of leading technology giants, with eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) all publishing their financials over the coming sessions this week. 

Jordan Sriharan, Senior Portfolio Manager at Thomas Miller Investment, said tech index NASDAQ is close to its record high and it remains to be seen if it can continue to trade up at these levels following major tech sector results.

“Another titan of US industry, Boeing, reports this week with lower profit and sales expected from the world’s largest aircraft maker. Analysts will be looking for guidance on how the company expects demand to react following two fatal accidents involving its 737 Max jets.”

It would also be worth keeping an eye out for European bank earnings. The industry is undergoing deep structural change while the eurozone's low interest rates are limiting their ability to generate robust profits.   

Away from equities, pointers on monetary policy direction of Japan and Canada would be eyed. “The Bank of Japan will hold their monetary policy meeting this week and we will see the latest quarterly report providing insight into their views on longer-term economic growth. Similarly, the Bank of Canada is expected to hold monetary policy at its current stance following recent interest rate rises, with their quarterly report also being published,” Sriharan added. 

Additionally, important US data will be released towards the end of the week where durable goods orders for March are expected to show a small rise before we see the first estimate of Q1 US GDP on Friday (26 April). 

“This data point is expected to be weaker as the federal government shutdown in January is likely to have dragged down growth.”