ON DECK FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 7th

ON DECK FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 7th

KEY POINTS:

  • Global markets don’t really believe Trump’s threats…
  • …but Iran seems to
  • US core durable goods orders are likely to remain strong on data centers and metals
  • Small test markets show little inflation in early war readings

Tick, tick, tick, tick…..

That’s the sound of 12amET tonight approaching. Markets may be on tenterhooks until then to see if either side blinks before Trump’s threat to escalate by bombing civilian infrastructure in Iran possibly becomes reality.

The pattern is for Trump to repeatedly back down, but we’ll see. He also says it will be a four-hour window of decimation, but we’ll see on that as well.

This doubt is probably why markets are not really showing that much concern at this point. Oil prices are volatile but little changed. Equities were rallying in Europe as they caught up from a four-day weekend and to developments such as nonfarm payrolls, but have since lost most of the early morning gain while NA equity futures are a touch lower. The USD is little changed. Sovereign bond yields have a mild cheapening bias across major global benchmarks.

Iran, however, is showing all signs of fully expecting a bombardment with no appetite for negotiations. Iran ordered train service to be cancelled across multiple major cities this morning. Both sides kept attacking each other overnight.

Inflation Undershoots in Small Markets on War’s First Effects

At the same time, we have evidence of very soft inflation during March despite the war’s effects but from two small markets. Sweden’s krona is the worst currency performer among the majors and semi-majors this morning after CPI surprised lower than expected. CPI fell -0.6% m/m NSA (0% consensus) with underlying CPI matching. That dragged the yearly rate down to just 0.6% y/y which bolstered the case for the Riksbank to remain on hold, for now.

Thailand’s March CPI reading also fell shy of expectations at 0.6% m/m (0.9) consensus) with core CPI up 0.6% m/m like the prior month.

US Core Durable Goods Orders Likely Remained Strong

US durable goods orders for February (8:30amET) will probably be faded as backward looking in the current war context. Maybe they shouldn’t be. A significant headline drop is expected due to lower transportation orders but core orders excluding defence and transportation are expected to keep rising. Core orders have been accelerating over the past two years (chart 1) as orders for computers and electrical equipment continue to soar likely due to the AI and data center spending boom. Primary and fabricated metal orders are also strong and partially driven by higher prices due to tariffs.

Chart 1: US Core Capital Goods Orders

The rest of the line-up is pretty dull. The US releases the weekly ADP private payrolls report (8:15amET) and Canada updates the little watched Ivey PMI for March (10amET) that mashes so many things together from the private and public sectors that you never can tell what’s driving it.

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