Talking in a trade war

Daily update

Reports in Washington suggest US President Trump may talk directly with China’s President Xi later this week (after several days of more heated rhetoric between the US and China over trade). As Trump has been anxious for the call, and China has not, this may hint at more US retreats over trade taxes as a concession to bring China to the telephone.
A China manufacturing sentiment poll showed some weakness. Sentiment data everywhere is plagued with reliability problems, although the specific challenge of political partisanship is less likely in numbers from China. The US offers April factory and durable goods orders, with investors looking for damage from policy uncertainty.
The US job openings data is due—based off a survey with so low a response rate that one might question whether the numbers should be published. Again, investor focus is on whether policy uncertainty is causing companies to delay hiring (although this data does not reliably demonstrate that).
Bank of Japan Governor Ueda is to speak. The BoJ is the only major central bank that may raise rates in the near future. Assorted Bank of England officials testify to Parliament, with a very divided policy committee. Eurozone consumer price inflation is a non-event, as the regional numbers have already been released.