Major Central Bank Decisions and Tech Earnings Set to Drive Markets Next Week

Gate News message, April 26 — Next week brings a super central bank week and earnings season, with the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, European Central Bank, and Bank of Canada all set to announce interest rate decisions. The Federal Reserve will release its rate decision at 2 a.m. Beijing time on Thursday. Markets broadly expect all five central banks to hold rates steady, though the Bank of Japan may signal a hawkish tone on June rate hikes due to Middle East tensions and inflation pressures, marking the key focal point. JPMorgan predicts the Fed will maintain rates throughout 2026, with the next adjustment likely a rate hike in Q3 2027. Meanwhile, tech giants Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Meta will release quarterly earnings.

Monday: Iran-U.S. second-round talks are scheduled for April 27 (local time).

Tuesday: Bank of Japan announces rate decision; BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda holds a monetary policy press conference.

Wednesday: Bank of Canada announces policy rate decision; Iran announces a national power demonstration parade for April 29 (local time); Robinhood releases earnings.

Thursday: Federal Reserve FOMC rate decision (2 a.m. Beijing time); Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds a monetary policy press conference (2:30 a.m. Beijing time); Meta, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, and Amazon release earnings and hold conference calls after U.S. market close; Bank of England announces policy rate decision; U.S. Q1 real GDP (annualized quarterly rate), initial jobless claims for the week ending April 25, and March core PCE index (month-over-month) are released.

Friday: Apple holds a conference call to discuss Q2 earnings and business updates after U.S. market close; Google announces price increases for Cloud, CDN, and AI infrastructure services.

Saturday: Berkshire Hathaway holds its first shareholder meeting in the post-Buffett era (8 p.m. Beijing time Saturday).