Rates, GDP and Earnings - the highlights of the week

The coming week marks the busiest one of the first-quarter earnings season on Wall Street, with many of the big-name U.S. technology stocks, such as Facebook, Amazon and Google, set to report in the days ahead.

Investors also have their eyes on interest rates to see if the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield will finally hit the 3%-mark. If yields continue to breakout, that will certainly start weighing on equities.

Meanwhile, attention will shift back to monetary policy this week, with meetings from both the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan on the agenda, though it's highly unlikely either will rock the boat policy-wise.

GDP reports will also be in focus, with preliminary readings for the first three months of 2018 expected out of the United States and the United Kingdom.

Geopolitics and trade talk will also likely keep investors on their toes this week.

1. U.S. Tech Companies Highlight Busy Week Of Earnings

This week will be the busiest week of the first-quarter earnings season, with more than a third of the S&P 500 set to report.

Most of the focus will be on the FAANG group of stocks.

After the bell on Monday, Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is expected by analysts on average to report a 22% increase in revenue to $30.3 billion, with net income rising 21%, equivalent to $9.28 per share on a non-GAAP basis, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Analysts expect Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) to post a 42% surge in quarterly revenue, to $11.4 billion, when it reports late on Wednesday. Its stock has lost 10% since the revelations about Cambridge, underscoring investors' concerns about regulation that could crimp the leading social network's profitability.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) late on Thursday is expected to report a 40% jump in revenue to $50 billion as the online retailer continues its expansion into cloud computing and brick-and-mortar groceries. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos may face questions from analysts about how Amazon might react to U.S. President Donald Trump's allegations that the company enjoys unfair business advantages, including its use of United States Postal Service.

Also reporting this week are Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) on Wednesday, and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) on Thursday.

Among non-tech names, Boeing (NYSE:BA), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), 3M (NYSE:MMM), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Visa (NYSE:V), Ford (NYSE:F), General Motors (NYSE:GM), UPS (NYSE:UPS), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) are some of the names on the docket for this week.

2. European Central Bank Policy Meeting

The European Central Bank is all but certain to keep interest rates at their current record low levels when it holds its third meeting of the year at 1145GMT (7:45AM ET) on Thursday.

President Mario Draghi will hold a closely-watched press conference 45 minutes after the rate announcement as investors seek further clues on when the central bank plans to end its €2.5 trillion stimulus program.

Expectations have grown recently that policymakers may take another small step in removing stimulus after dropping a long-standing pledge to increase its bond buying if needed at its last meeting in March.

3. BOJ Policy Announcement

The Bank of Japan is also seen keeping policy on hold at the conclusion of its two-day rate review on Friday, including a pledge to keep short-term interest rates at minus 0.1%.

BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a press conference afterward to discuss the decision.

The Japanese central bank will also publish its latest quarterly outlook report, which will contain the latest forecasts on economic growth and inflation.

Most likely, there will be little change to the projections, with policymakers maintaining their view on hitting the 2% inflation target in 2019.

4. U.S. Advanced First Quarter GDP

Investors will keep an eye on a preliminary reading of first-quarter U.S. growth due at 8:30AM ET (1230GMT) Friday to gauge if the world's largest economy is strong enough to withstand multiple rate hikes in the coming months.

The report is expected to show growth in the January-March period slowing from an annual rate of 2.9% to 2.0%, as consumer spending is forecast to have slowed sharply from the last quarter.

5. UK Preliminary Q1 GDP

Market players will focus on the first estimate of British first-quarter GDP for further hints on the health of the economy and the likelihood of the Bank of England raising interest rates this year.

The report, released by the Office for National Statistics at 0830GMT (4:30AM ET) on Friday, is forecast to reveal the economy grew 0.3% in the first three months of 2018, after expanding at a 0.4% clip in the previous three-month period.

On an annualized rate, the British economy is expected to grow 1.4% in the three months ended March 30, the same as its rise in the preceding quarter.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Read more:

• And for all the bounty hunters: Iran offers $80m for the head of Donald Trump
• US service member and 2 US Defense Dept contractors killed in Kenya attack
• Iranian Quds leader Qasem Soleimani has been killed – how are markets reacting
• A calm end of an otherwise loud 2019
• Old but Gold – Top 5 posts of Varchev Finance