MAY 2025 EVENTS
- Bank of Japan Meeting (May 1st at 04:00 GMT+1)
The Bank of Japan will meet to set its interest rates. In March the bank kept interest rates at 0.50%.
Possible Influence: Volatile Japanese Yen
- Company Q4 Earnings Season (May 1- May 31)
The 1st Quarter earnings season continues in May, with many major tech companies posting results.
Of the major companies, Apple (May 1st), Amazon (May 1st), Palantir (May 5th), AMD (May 6th), ARM (May 7th) and NVIDIA (May 28th) will post their earnings results.
Possible Influence: Volatile US Stocks
- US ISM Manufacturing PMI for April (May 1st at 15:00 GMT+1)
ISM Manufacturing PMI previous print was 49.0. The number was lower than the expected 49.5.
Possible influence: Volatile US Dollar, Gold and US Stocks
- U.S. Unemployment Rate and Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) (April) (May 2nd at 13:30 GMT+1)
The previous month had unemployment at 4.2%. Nonfarm Payrolls for the previous month printed 228,000.
Possible Influence: Volatile US Dollar, Gold and US Stocks
- Australian General Election (May 3rd)
The ruling Labor party is likely to win in a close election, but a close result could lead to uncertainty and extended negotiations between parties on a new government
Possible Influence: Volatile AUD/USD
- Eight OPEC+ countries will meet to set June production levels (May 5th at 11:00 GMT+1) and OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) will meet (May 28th at 11:00 GMT+1)
Eight OPEC members (including Russia) will hold their monthly meeting to discuss and set voluntary production levels from June. The wider JMMC will meet on May 28th to discuss the overall OPEC output levels.
Possible Influence: Volatile Crude oil
- US Federal Reserve meeting and press conference (May 7th at 19:00 GMT+1 and 19:30 GMT+1)
The Federal Open Market Committee of the U.S. The Federal Reserve will conclude its 2-day meeting to decide on interest rates. The current rate is 4.50%, after a 25-basis point cut in December. Analysts expect the rate to remain at 4.50% at this meeting, but a rate cut of 25 bps is currently expected in June.
Possible Influence: Volatile US Dollar, Stocks, Gold
- Bank of England Meeting (May 8th at 12:00 GMT+1)
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England will meet to decide on interest rates. A 25-basis point cut this month from the current rate of 4.5% to 4.25% is seen as likely. The last BoE cut was by 0.25% in February.
Possible Influence: Volatile British Pound and British stocks
- US Inflation data (April) (May 13th at 13:30 GMT+1)
Core CPI (excluding food and energy) was 2.8%, Year-over-Year in March. Top-line CPI for March came in at 2.4%, slightly less than expected.
Possible Influence: Volatile US Dollar, Gold and US Stocks
- Retail Sales in the US for (April) (May 15th at 13:30 GMT+1)
Month-over-Month Retail Sales was at 1.4% in March, which was higher than the 1.3% expected by the market.
Possible Influence: Volatile US Dollar, Gold and US Stocks
- Reserve Bank of Australia Interest Rate decision (May 20th at 04:30 GMT+1)
The RBA will meet to decide on interest rates and may decide to cut rates by 25 basis points. The current level is 4.10%.
Possible Influence: Volatile Australian Dollar