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In the last session of the week, financial markets were very volatile after the upside surprise in the US labor market report for January. Non-farm payrolls rose by 517k, well above consensus expectations (+188k) and the upwardly revised monthly average in 2022 (401k). The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4%, a level not seen since 1969.

Risk aversion continued to set the tone during the last session of the week, fueled by a further upward revision in investors’ expectations for the likely path of policy interest rates ahead. These worries were compounded by the announcement from Russia that the country will cut its oil production by 500k barrels a day next month.

Investors continued to err on the side of caution during a volatile session marked by the release of US CPI inflation for January. The report showed headline CPI rose by 0.5% m/m (+0,1% in December), while the year-on-year rate eased only mildly (6.4% after 6.5% in December), above expectations (6.2% according to Bloomberg).

In the last session of the week, investors digested the hawkish comments offered by key central bank officials in the US Federal Reserve and ECB. In the former, Michelle Bowmen and Thomas Barkin signaled that interest rates will need to raise further but warned against reading too much into January’s retail sales and employment data.

On Tuesday, the better-than-expected release of February PMIs fueled an increase in investors’ expectations for the path of official interest rates, which, in turn, pushed sovereign bond yields up in the euro area and in the US.

Precaution and volatility continued to set the tone across financial markets on Thursday. Eurozone HICP inflation surprised on the upside (headline: 8.5% y/y in February after 8.6%; core: 5.6% after 5.3%) while, in the US, data showed unit labour cost accelerated in Q4 and new weekly jobless claims fell further last week.

Economic data releases on Friday boosted investors' sentiment and allowed sovereign yields to edge down and equities to advance. Price pressures continue to moderate but remain elevated, according to the ISM prices paid index in the US (which fell from 67.8 to 65.6) and the PPI in the euro area (which declined from 24.5% to 15.0% y/y).

The hawkish tone set by central bank officials continued to center the stage in financial markets at the start of the week. In particular, ECB chief economist Phillip Lane signaled that further interest rate hikes beyond next week's meeting will be appropriate to ease inflationary pressures.

Federal Reserve president Jerome Powell’s hawkish rhetoric before the US Senate pushed upwards the financial market expectations for interest rates path ahead. In particular, investors now attach a higher probability to a 50bp hike than to a 25bp move at March’s meeting.

Speaking in the second day in Congress, Fed President Powell clarified that no decision had yet been made about the pace of monetary policy tightening, noting that the FOMC would consider higher rate hikes only if the totality of the data pointed in that direction. Before the next meeting, February inflation and employment data will be released.

Concerns about the health of the banking sector and the potential implications for the trajectory of monetary policy remained the key themes during a volatile session on Monday. Money markets showed a notable correction in expectations for terminal policy rates in both the US (5% in May) and the eurozone (3% in September).

Risk appetite returned to the fore on Tuesday, as investors reassessed the outlook for monetary policy across major central banks in the aftermath of the turmoil generated by the collapse of two regional banks in the US.

Volatility remained elevated across financial markets on Thursday, in a session characterized by risk-on sentiment. In line with expectations, the ECB announced a 50 bp hike in its policy interest rates, although refusing to pre-commit to a given size and pace of future adjustments, instead reiterating a data-dependency approach.

In the last session of the week, investors continued to trade with a risk-off mood amid continuing turmoil in the financial system. Doubts about the health of the banking sector led traders to think that central banks will have to stop hiking rates and start cutting them soon.

On Friday, the release of HICP inflation data in the euro area centered the stage in financial markets. Headline inflation fell sharply from 8.5% to 6.9% y/y in March, but core inflation ticked up to 7.5% in a sign that price pressures are persisting. In this context, ECB member Villeroy de Galhau said there are still some more rate hikes to do.

Risk appetite extended across financial markets on Thursday, with sentiment lifted by resilient economic data and further signs that inflationary pressures are easing. The focus today turns to the kickoff of the Q1 corporate earnings season, with results from some large US banks. 

Hawkish comments by officials from the ECB and the US Federal Reserve were the main drivers for investor sentiment in the last session of the week. In the euro area, Pierre Wunsch urged the ECB to speed up the reduction of its balance sheet and to stop reinvesting the maturing bonds while Joachim Nagel called for further interest rate hikes.

In the first session of the week, investors traded cautiously amid hawkish comments from some FOMC member and mixed results in the US corporate earnings season. In particular, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said that more evidence that US inflation is easing will be needed before changing the monetary policy stance.

In yesterday’s session investors traded cautiously amid mixed corporate profits reports and lingering worries of persistent inflationary pressures, after the upside surprise in the CPI March data in the UK. Also, the US Beige Book released yesterday stated that the US economy stalled in recent weeks, with slowing hiring and inflation.

Investors ended the week sticking with a cautious approach, taking on board mixed corporate earnings and resilient economic sentiment data pointing to more monetary policy tightening ahead. For the ECB, VP Luis de Guindos said core inflation remains “very sticky”and added that the next ECB moves will be based on data.