SINGAPORE- Financial markets made an optimistic start on Monday with US stock futures rising and the dollar firm ahead of a week driven by data, and the threat of steep US tariff hikes on the horizon.
S&P 500 futures were up about 0.7 percent in the Asia session and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.8 percent. European futures were up 0.3 percent in the Asia afternoon.
Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng wobbled around flat and the euro, which fell slightly last week, steadied at $1.0822.
In emerging markets, Indonesia’s fragile stock market suffered another sharp fall while Turkey’s lira was on a knife’s edge as the jailing of President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival has unsettled investors.
Shares in Australia-listed fibre-cement maker James Hardie fell 14.5 percent after it said it would buy US outdoor building products maker AZEK Company for $8.8 billion in cash and stock.
The week holds global purchasing managers index gauges, the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation reading, inflation data in Australia and Japan, a budget update in Britain and major earnings in China.
But it is likely to be updates on US President Donald Trump’s plans for global reciprocal tariffs from April 2 that drives markets, and after a volatile month for stocks, bonds and currencies, analysts said there is no obvious trade ahead.
“It’s very difficult to really devise a structural playbook,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
“You’ve got to put your mind into the head of the consumer and households,” he said, since it has been fears of a slowdown in the world’s biggest economy that has led to weeks of selling dollars and stocks and a strong rally for Treasuries.
“Anything that feeds into this higher probability of recession, higher probability of a stagflationary environment … or that price pressures aren’t transitory is where we start to get panicky a bit.”
