Latest Irish Life weekly markets update

Key talking points include:

• Global markets rallied strongly on the week as better-than-expected corporate earnings releases and easing trade tensions drove positive sentiment.
• Comments from President Trump that appeared to row back on his recent threat to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell also boosted markets.
• The S&P 500 bounced 4.6% (MTD -1.9%, YTD -6.1%) while the Euro Stoxx 600 rose by 2.8% (MTD -3.6%, YTD 2.5%).
• Trade negotiations are again likely to remain in focus this week but economic data and earnings reports will also be of note. Major releases include US Q1 GDP (tomorrow), ISM manufacturing (Thursday) and the employment report (Friday) as well as Eurozone Q1 GDP (Thursday).