Next week, in the United States all eyes will be on the US FOMC meeting, where policymakers are expected to maintain borrowing costs at record levels. Investors will be closely monitoring Chair Powell's remarks for any clues regarding the timing and frequency of interest rate cuts expected to be delivered this year, particularly in light of persistent inflationary pressures. In terms of economic data, the non-farm payrolls are expected to increase by 210K in April, a slowdown from 303K in March. The unemployment rate is forecasted to remain steady at 3.8%, with monthly wage growth expected to remain unchanged at 0.3%. Other releases to watch for include April's ISM PMI surveys, JOLTs job openings, foreign trade, first-quarter employment cost index and productivity, Case-Shiller home prices, ADP Employment Change, factory orders, and regional activity indexes such as the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index and Chicago PMI. Also, the  first-quarter earnings report season will be in full swing, with investors eagerly anticipating updates from a host of major companies, including Apple Inc, Amazon.com, 3M Co, Coca-Cola, McDonald's Corp, Starbucks Corp, Advanced Micro Devices, PayPal Holdings, Automatic Data Processing, The Estee Lauder Companies, Mastercard, Pfizer, Amgen, Moderna, and Novo Nordisk. Elsewhere in America, key data to monitor includes Canada's GDP and trade figures, Mexico's first-quarter GDP and business sentiment, Brazil's jobless rate, foreign trade, and industrial activity, and PMI figures from various countries across the continent.

Across the Atlantic, in the Eurozone and Europe's largest economies such as Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, flash data on first-quarter GDP figures, April's consumer price inflation, and March's unemployment levels will be reported. The bloc is expected to have expanded by 0.2% in the January to March period, following stagnation at the end of 2023, while inflation is projected to remain at 2.4%, hovering close to one of its lowest levels in over two years. Other economic data to monitor includes the Eurozone business survey, Germany's retail sales, UK's monetary indicators, and inflation rates from Switzerland, Turkey, and Poland. Final PMI figures for Europe's largest economies, alongside flash figures for Italy and Spain, will also be in the spotlight.

In Asia, all eyes will be on Chinese PMIs for the first batch of April updates, expected to reflect a slight slowdown from March and do little to stoke investors’ optimism over significant traction in the Chinese economy. In Japan, economic releases will be headlined by April’s consumer confidence and the unemployment rate, retail sales, industrial production, and housing starts for March, while minutes from the BoJ’s minutes may give insights into policymakers’ hawkishness. Elsewhere, the inflation rate and PMI data are expected out of South Korea, while Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia will unveil their first-quarter GDPs. In Australia, the spotlight will be on March’s trade balance, in addition to retail sales, housing and credit data, and the Ai Group industry gauge for April.