Global Highlights This Week: Tesla and Google's Earnings Reports Are Approaching, and the Powell Controversy Heightens Market Unease

The three major US stock indexes recorded declines last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index both saw cumulative drops of over 2.6%, and the S&P 500 Index fell by 1.5% for the week.

The uncertainty of US President Trump's tariff policies still dominated the market sentiment. And Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's latest speech further intensified investors' pessimistic sentiment.

Powell said on Wednesday last week that the Federal Reserve would give priority to controlling inflation, reaffirmed that it would maintain a wait-and-see stance, and also denied the so-called "Fed put" .

The Federal Reserve will release the Beige Book of Economic Conditions at Beijing time next Thursday. This report will reveal the Federal Reserve's assessment of the current US economy.

In addition to the Federal Reserve's own monetary policy, the future of Powell himself also affects investors' emotions, and the conflict between him and Trump has further escalated recently.

Trump publicly pressured Powell to cut interest rates several times this week. He also said that Powell should leave his position as soon as possible.

Some media broke the news that Trump has been privately studying the dismissal of Powell for several months, but there are differences of opinion within his team on this matter. The White House confirmed the claim that Trump is considering removing Powell from his position.

As the world's most influential central bank, the credibility of the Federal Reserve largely depends on the independence of its actions and being free from political interference. If Trump tries to remove Powell from his position, it may further intensify market turbulence.

With Trump's implementation of radical tariff policies, the global economy and corporate prospects have been impacted. A series of earnings reports to be released this week will be an important test for the US stock market.

Two major technology giants, Tesla and Google's parent company Alphabet, will release their earnings reports this week, which has attracted much attention from investors.

The market hopes to find clues to deal with the impact of tariff uncertainty from their performance.

JJ Kinahan, CEO of IG North America and President of Tastytrade, said: "Now the outlook judgment of corporate CEOs is more important than ever before."

Tesla will release its earnings report after the market closes on Tuesday this week. Due to the close relationship between its CEO Elon Musk and Trump, it has attracted much public attention.

For Google, the company is scheduled to release its earnings report after the US stock market closes on Thursday this week. Investors will pay attention to the details of its capital expenditures on advertising spending and artificial intelligence (AI) computing power.

The stock prices of the "Magnificent Seven" in the US stock market have generally dropped sharply this year. Google has dropped by about 20%, and Tesla has even plummeted by 40%. Kinahan said: "These companies used to be the main drivers of the market's upward movement.

If they can't continue to perform well, investors may generally lose confidence, especially against the backdrop of the sharp market volatility in the past few weeks."

In addition, companies such as Boeing, Intel, and PepsiCo will also release their quarterly reports this week.

The market hopes that the earnings season can bring a bit of calm to the turbulent market. After Trump announced the imposition of additional tariffs, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), known as the "fear index", once soared to 60.

Although it has now fallen back to around 30, it is still far higher than the long-term median value of 17.6.

Ayako Yoshioka, a senior investment strategist at Wealth Enhancement, said that only when the VIX falls back to around the "median level of 15" can it be said that the market volatility has truly subsided.

"If it still remains around 30," she said. "That means we are still not out of danger."

Overview of Important Events This Week

Monday: The US March Conference Board Leading Economic Index; 2025 FOMC voting member and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will be interviewed by the media.
Tuesday: The US April Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index; the preliminary value of the Eurozone April Consumer Confidence Index; the IMF releases the "World Economic Outlook" report.
Wednesday : The preliminary values of the Eurozone, Germany, and France's April manufacturing, services, and composite PMIs; the preliminary values of the UK's April manufacturing, services, and composite PMIs; the Eurozone's seasonally adjusted trade balance for February; the preliminary values of the US April S&P Global manufacturing, services, and composite PMIs.
Thursday: The Federal Reserve releases the Beige Book of Economic Conditions; the US March existing home sales data; Germany's April IFO Business Climate Index.
Friday : The final value of the US April University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index; the final value of the US April one-year inflation rate expectation; the UK April Gfk Consumer Confidence Index; global financial leaders attend the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings until April 26th.