The war in the Middle East will remain a key driver of energy prices and global financial markets, even as major central banks continue to raise interest rates to fight inflation. At the same time, growing calls to slow the pace of artificial intelligence development could weigh on a sector that has been instrumental in supporting global equities, credit issuance, and commodity markets.
These issues—alongside trade—are expected to dominate the agenda at the highly anticipated meeting between US President Trump and Chinese President Xi. In the US, the data calendar will be led by durable goods orders, while the country will also participate in a fresh round of PMI releases alongside the Eurozone aggregate and key economies including Japan, Australia, and India.
Australia is scheduled to publish its latest labor market figures, and India will release its infrastructure output data. In addition, markets will be watching for monetary policy decisions from central banks in China, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Mexico, and Indonesia.
