Economic calendar: US Non-Farm Payrolls and Fed chair Powell's speech in markets spotlight

• U.S indices futures are trading lower; weak sentiment also prevails in the European session.
• Wall Street awaits the U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report for March at 1:30 PM GMT.
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at 4:25 PM GMT.

The situation on global equity markets remains tense, and even the worst session since March 16, 2020, has failed to trigger any rebound. Instead, we are seeing growing uncertainty ahead of the NFP report and Powell's speech. The Fed finds itself in a difficult position, as economic growth is slowing and recession risks are rising, while short- and long-term inflation expectations are surging — even though the impact of newly imposed tariffs has yet to materialize and directly affect prices.

Macroeconomic Calendar

1:30 PM GMT, U.S., Non-Farm Payrolls report (March):

• Expected change in non-farm employment: +140k vs +151k previous

• Private sector employment: expected +135k vs +140k previous

• Manufacturing sector: expected decline of -1k vs +10k increase previous

• Unemployment rate: expected 4.1% vs 4.1% previous

• Average hourly earnings: +4.0% YoY vs +4.0% previous (+0.3% MoM vs +0.3% previous)

• Average weekly hours: 34.2 vs 34.1 previous

1:30 PM GMT, Canada, Employment Change (March):

• Expected: +10k vs +1.1k previous

• Unemployment rate: expected 6.7% vs 6.6% previous

Central Bank Speakers

• 4:25 PM GMT – Fed Chair Jerome Powell

• 5:00 PM GMT – Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr

• 5:45 PM GMT – Fed Governor Christopher Waller