What to Watch in the Day Ahead - Thursday, May 15

Reuters
15 May
What to Watch in the Day Ahead - Thursday, May 15

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak before the Thomas Laubach Research Conference. (0840 /1240) The conference will highlight research focusing on monetary policy and the economy. As such, it is expected to provide timely academic perspectives for the monetary policy framework review that the Federal Reserve has committed to conduct every five years. Separately, Federal Reserve Board Governor Michael Barr is expected to give opening remarks before the virtual 2025 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Small Business Credit Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and Richmond. (1405 /1805)

Walmart is expected to post a rise in its first-quarter revenue, benefiting from steady demand for groceries and essentials across all income groups. Investors will look out for the company's plans to mitigate tariff impacts, challenges from existing tariffs on China, forecast revision and consumer sentiment.

On the economic calendar, the Producer Price Index $(PPI)$ for final demand is likely to see a 0.2% increase in April, after falling 0.4% the month before. In the 12 months through April, the PPI likely advanced 2.5%, after rising 2.7% in March. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core PPI is likely to have gained in April, rising 0.3% after falling 0.1% in March. On a yearly basis, core PPI is expected to gain 3.1% in April. Meanwhile, the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims data is scheduled for release. Initial jobless claims likely increased by 1,000 to 229,000 for the week ended May 10. Continued claims for state unemployment benefits likely increased to 1.890 million for the week ended May 3 from 1.879 million in the week before. Separately, retail sales are forecast to have remained flat in April, compared to a 1.4% rise in March. Excluding sales of automobiles, retail sales are projected to have edged up 0.3% last month, after rising 0.5% in March. Meanwhile, industrial production in April is expected to show 0.2% growth, after a decline of 0.3% in March. Capacity utilization was likely at 77.8% in April, same as the previous month.

Deere is expected to report a fall in second-quarter sales and profit when it reports earnings.

Applied Materials is expected to report a rise in second-quarter revenue, as it benefits from strong demand for its chipmaking equipment even as the rising geopolitical and economic tensions cloud the outlook for chip firms.

Investors will be looking closely at Take-Two Interactive's annual bookings forecast when they report their fourth-quarter earnings, after the videogame publisher pushed the release of its highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI" out of its fiscal 2026. Still, the company has an attractive line-up of releases this year, including "Borderlands 4" and "Mafia: The Old Country."

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is expected to report an increase in its March quarterly revenue, driven by steady demand. The company's comments on its cloud business, AI initiatives and on U.S.-China trade tensions will be closely watched for.

German footwear maker Birkenstock is expected to post a rise in second-quarter revenue, helped by steady demand for its closed-toe and premium product categories. Investors will look for comments on the impact of tariff uncertainty on consumer sentiment, pricing, input costs as well as annual forecasts.

On the Canadian economic calendar, Statistics Canada will release housing starts numbers, which are forecast to have jumped to an annualized rate of 227,500 units in April, compared to 214,200 units in March. The agency will also release wholesale trade data for March. Canadian wholesale trade most likely fell 0.3%, after rising 0.3% in the previous period. Meanwhile, manufacturing sales for March are expected to drop 1.9%, in contrast to a 0.2% rise in the month before.

On the Latin American front, Brazil's retail sales in March are projected to have risen 1.0% after gaining 0.5% in February. Annually, retail sales likely fell 0.5%. Separately, Mexico's central bank is expected to lower its key interest rate by 50 bps to 8.50% from 9.00%.

(Compiled by Kumar Satyam; Edited by Vijay Kishore)

((Kumar.Satyam@thomsonreuters.com;))

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