European stock futures are up slightly in Tuesday’s pre-opening session, even though the fall in US futures and the untrendy session in Asia point to a volatile start to the day in Europe.
At this time, the futures of the Stoxx 50 – the index of the 50 biggest listed companies in the region – gained 0.1%, while the futures of the North American S&P 500 lost 0.1%. During the early morning in Lisbon, the Asian session saw gains (0.4% in Japan), but also losses (-0.6% in China).
In Beijing, the falls were justified by the lower than expected March export figures, which raised new fears about the health of the world’s second largest economy and how it is recovering from the crisis.
This week there are three events that are capturing investors’ attention. The first will be the release of inflation figures in the United States, which will give a more concrete picture of whether or not the current economic recovery is causing consumer prices to soar, as the markets have feared for some months.
Then it is the week when the banking sector – JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs – presents figures, kicking off the season of results for the first quarter of this year. April is usually the brightest month for the S&P 500, due to the profits presented at this time.
Finally, much attention is being paid to the Treasury auctions taking place this week. Ten-year Treasury yields in the secondary market have eased recently from 14-month highs, but remain near that mark. Yesterday’s auction of ten-year maturity debt showed decent demand and today the focus is on the 30-year auction. A weak run on US debt could lead to a further rise in yields.
