Canadian prime minister Mark Carney makes a statement in parliament about the mass shooting. Photo: Reuters
War will dominate this coming week, once again, as the Middle East crisis that has convulsed markets keeps investor focused on the rolling news and energy markets.
Last week tensions escalated and the level of destruction entered a dangerous new phase. Iran attacked energy facilities across the region following Israel’s strike on its gas field.
The results will take months at least to rebuild, if and when the immediate conflict abates. Higher energy prices now look baked in for the coming months.
Global markets have turned sharply more pessimistic about the length of the Iran conflict and now expect it to keep going for months, Amundi SA chief investment officer Vincent Mortier said on Friday. They’re now thinking in terms of months, not weeks.
That will overshadow any news events or data updates in the coming week. Those include some timely Central Bank economic research on ‘Fiscal Support During a Period of High Inflation: A Distributional Perspective’, due on Thursday and coming, it seems, on the cusp of a potentially renewed cost-of-living crisis.
The Central Bank’s broader Quarterly Bulletin is due on Wednesday.
Central Statistics Office data this week includes Wholesale Prices and payroll data on Monday, goods trade and ports statitsics on Wednesday and retail sales for February on Friday.
On the corporate side, its a light week for scheduled reporting.
Politcially and geopolitically, the global centre of gravity remains US president Donald Trump, who has been a daily media fixture amid the war with Iran. Closer to home, Simon Harris and his fellow Eurogroup of finance ministers are due to meet on Friday and Saturday. Fallout from the war will be front of mind for attendees.
Meanwhile, Canada is to host a meeting next week to begin discussions on a charter for a new multilateral bank designed to help countries that back it strengthen their defence sectors, the country’s minister of foreign affairs said on Thursday.
Canada has been leading the push in recent months for a defence bank as part of prime minister Mark Carney’s effort to bolster co-operation between Nato members and other allies.
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