Trump and Xi meeting, inflation and Nebius: what investors need to know this week
This week's meeting between U.S. and Chinese leaders will be the first since October 2025
Geopolitics will be the focus of investors' attention this week as US President Donald Trump plans to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The leaders of the two major economies are expected to discuss trade deals, artificial intelligence, duties and the war in Iran. According to Yahoo Finance, the American leader will be accompanied by about a dozen top executives, including the heads of Nvidia, Apple and Boeing. Controversial geopolitical issues will dominate the summit, and as The Wall Street Journal notes, Citi analysts believe it is likely that these talks could accelerate the resolution of the Iran crisis. The two-day visit was originally scheduled for March but was postponed due to the war.
The main event of the economic calendar will be the publication of US inflation data for April. The dynamics of consumer prices will make it possible to assess the impact of the high cost of energy and the chances of reducing interest rates of the U.S. Federal Reserve System under the future head Kevin Warsh. "The April consumer price index report will be more interesting than usual," Wells Fargo pointed out.
The season of disclosure of corporate reports on Wall Street is coming to an end. According to Barron's calculations, almost 90% of companies in the S&P 500 index have already reported financial results for the first quarter. And more than 85% of them have beaten earnings per share forecasts, while 80% have exceeded sales expectations. Nine S&P 500 members will release their quarterly results this week, including Constellation Energy, Cisco and Applied Materials. In addition, Arkady Volozh's Netherlands-based Nebius and China's Alibaba and Tencent will report earnings.
Barrick Mining, Constellation Energy, Circle, Hims & Hers Health and Quantum Computing will disclose last quarter's financial results on Monday, Ma. 11.
On Tuesday, Ma. 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April, a key inflation indicator for the U.S. Federal Reserve. Economists on average expect the index to rise at an annualized rate of 3.7%, the fastest pace since September 2023.
Bayer, On Holding and Thyssenkrupp will report quarterly earnings.
On Wednesday, Ma. 13, the BLS will release the producer price index (PPI) for April. The consensus estimate calls for a 4.8% year-over-year jump. In the eurozone, industrial production statistics for March, the second estimate of GDP and preliminary employment metrics for the first quarter will be released.
Nebius, Alibaba, Tencent, Birkenstock, Cisco, Merck, Siemens, and USA Rare Earth will report.
Trump will travel to Beijing on Thursday, May 14, to meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping. In Europe, Scandinavian stock exchanges will not operate due to the Ascension holiday.
Applied Materials, Burberry, Li Auto, Figma and Klarna will report quarterly results.
On Friday, Ma. 15, Japanese megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial will disclose their financial results.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
