Key takeaways:

• This week sees interest rate decisions by the RBA and Federal Reserve, where monetary policy between the two nations is expected to diverge further

• Earnings season wraps up with results from tech, energy, and travel, among other sectors

A positive series of quarterly earnings helped propel US stocks higher on Friday, leading the way for a rally to start the new week. 

Economic Calendar and News

Monetary policy takes centre stage this week, with interest rate decisions due in both Australia and the United States.Locally, economists expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to maintain its cautious view and hold the official cash rate steady for the second straight month at 3.6%.

While the decision is still viewed as lineball in some quarters, recent inflation data, which showed cooling in the growth of consumer prices, is expected to support the case for a wait-and-see approach.

Also on the Australian economic calendar this week are the latest figures on manufacturing and services activity, job advertisements, commodity prices, dwelling prices, retail sales, home loan activity, and the Balance of Trade.In the US, Federal Reserve policymakers will convene for the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). 

Unlike the RBA, the Fed is expected to push ahead with its all-out strategy to tame inflation. That means officials are expected to raise the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5% to 5.25%. 

Observers will be listening for any clues that suggest this is the last rate hike in the Fed tightening cycle, which could be conducive to the stock market.

Also on the cards in the US this week is the latest report on the US jobs market. It begins on Tuesday US-time with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for March, which tracks job openings, hires, and resignations. A day later is the national employment report for April, where surveys suggest 135,000 jobs were added to the US economy last month. This will be a precursor to the Labor Department nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday, where figures suggest around 180,000 new hires were made last month, which would be the smallest increase in nearly two and a half years.

Stocks on watch

Tech will be back in focus over the coming days as another round of high-profile earnings trickle through from the United States. Last week saw the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) defy concerns about a tech-led economic slowdown, delivering strong results that pleased the market.However, a growth slowdown for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) cloud division, and a guidance downgrade by Cloudfare (NYSE: NET) highlight the fragmented outlook for the sector. As such, investors will pay great attention to the outlook for tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which hands down its earnings over the coming days.

Of particular interest will be demand growth across the electronic device manufacturer flagship iPhone series, particularly in light of signs that weakness is emerging within the broader economy as far as consumer demand.

Analysts expect the iconic tech name is likely to report slowing growth across the breadth of its product category, including both iPhones and iPads, which would be the first time in three years that such a slowdown occurred. Revenue figures may have also been hampered by reduced spending on high-end products like Mac products. An unknown quantity for the business could extend to supply-chain issues, as well as currency headwinds

Consumer demand will also be gauged via earnings from semiconductor stocks like Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI), and ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ON), who may provide a barometer of sorts with regards to demand for personal computers and smartphones. An area of interest, and potential upside for the sector, may lie in tech push into artificial intelligence, which is expected to provide a possible tailwind alongside data centre exposure.Meanwhile, Afterpay parent company, Block (NYSE: SQ), will also deliver a quarterly update this week. The company may benefit from an uptick in the price of Bitcoin, which follows a series of quarters where the cryptocurrency has weighed on the payment company results. Investors will be scrutinising the company efforts to address compliance matters, with Block Cash App recently attracting scathing allegations from short seller Hindenburg Research, which initially rattled the market.The energy sector is also likely to see renewed attention, with a host of US majors in the spotlight amid earnings. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: SHEL), BP (NYSE: BP), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) will deliver earnings to the market throughout the week, at a time where oil prices have come off the boil compared with a year ago, albeit with the period between providing a windfall for operators to build a war chest and also invest for production growth.Other US reports to watch this week include big pharma vaccine manufacturers Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), gold producer Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD), crypto trading platform Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), auto-maker Ford (NYSE: F), media conglomerate Warner Bros (NASDAQ: WBD), rideshare app Uber (NYSE: UBER), fitness equipment manufacturer Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON), and a host of other names.Days after unveiling US$100 billion of deposits left the door in the first quarter of the year amid the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, First Republic (NYSE: FRC) is still occupying headlines. Over the weekend the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation (FDIC) asked for bids to buy First Republic Bank, with JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and PNC (NYSE: PNC) reported to be among the interested parties. 

Rumours that the FDIC could swoop in and seize the company sparked a massive sell-off in FRC on Sunday, with the stock plunging to a new all-time low and market cap of just US$650 million. In contrast, back in November 2021 the regional bank commanded a market cap of approximately US$39 billion.

Local banks will also be a talking point as ANZ (ASX: ANZ), National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB), and Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) deliver results. Whereas ANZ and NAB will publish interim results, Macquarie is set to detail its full-year result for FY23 on Friday. Lending growth will be a focal point of the trio's numbers, but margins are expected to be scrutinised even more closely as recent results from sector peers suggested net interest margins may have already peaked, despite interest rates rising in the early stages of the year.SelfWealth Ltd ABN 52 154 324 428 (Selfwealth) (AFSL 421789). The information contained on this website is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser and/or accountant. Taxation, legal and other matters referred to on this website are of a general nature only and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice.