Key international financial events: US employment, debt ceiling negotiations, and company earnings reports

This week’s key international financial events include: the United States announced the increase in non-agricultural employment in May, and the progress of debt ceiling negotiations. In addition, although the financial report season is coming to an end, there are still heavyweight companies announcing their results for the previous quarter. Stocks worthy of attention include Broadcom (AVGO-US)、Lululemon(LULU-US), Macy’s (M-US), HP (HPQ-US) and Dell (DELL-US) wait.

This week’s trading notes (0529-0602)

1. U.S. non-farm payrolls in May

The U.S. Labor Department will release nonfarm payrolls for May on Friday, with analysts polled by Reuters forecasting a rise of 180,000, a moderate increase from April’s 253,000. It is one of the last data to be considered ahead of the Federal Reserve’s June 13-14 meeting, which will determine whether the 14-month cycle of aggressive interest rate hikes will continue.

The Fed had hinted at a meeting in early May that it was willing to pause interest rate hikes in June, but several policymakers, including Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and St. Deliver hawkish talk, raising the odds of a rate hike.

The Fed will release its economic Beige Book this week, which compiles the survey results of the regional Federal Reserve Banks over the past one and a half months. In addition, the Fed’s “Fed Listens” (Fed Listens) conference series held in 12 jurisdictions is about to debut.

2. Debt ceiling

White House and Republican negotiators reached an agreement in principle on Saturday night to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid a catastrophic default that could shake the global economy, ending a months-long standoff. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen warned on Friday that the federal government could default on its debt as soon as June 5 if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, later than originally expected on June 1.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who hammered out the deal in a 90-minute phone call, will now have the task of overcoming opposition from bipartisan hawkish lawmakers to get the framework agreement finalized. Congress successfully passed the barriers.

Next, members of the House of Representatives will have 72 hours to read the new legislation before submitting it for a vote. McCarthy said he would meet with Biden again on Sunday and vote on Wednesday.

3. Financial reports of US companies

Companies due to report earnings this week include fabless semiconductor company Broadcom, whose shares surged 11.5 percent to $812.73 a share on Friday, a record high, on Friday after it secured a large, multi-year order from Apple. Analysts estimate that Broadcom’s revenue rose 7% to $8.7 billion in the last quarter, and EPS grew 12% to $10.12.

The two major PC makers, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell (DELL), will also release their financial reports this week. Judging from the views of executives at the conference, they will be able to see whether the PC boom has bottomed out.

On the consumer side, yoga apparel maker Lululemon (Lululemon ) is an indicator of consumer demand for high-priced activewear. Another spotlight is Macy’s , which has reported earnings in its last two forecasts, with analysts forecasting a modest improvement in earnings last quarter.

According to FactSet statistics,S&P 500 Index97% of the constituent companies have announced their first-quarter results. It is currently estimated that the profits of US companies fell by 2.1% last quarter.