Early Morning Call: Credit Suisse saw CHF 61 billion in Q1 outflows

UK Rightmove house price index rose by 0.2% in April month-on-month. In March, the index rose by 0.8%. Compared with a year earlier, asking prices were 1.7% higher, down from a 3% in March.

Later this Monday at 9am, the German Ifo business climate is expected to rise to 93.7 in April, from 93.3 in March. It would be a small rise, but the sixth one in a row that would maintain the index at a level not seen since 2022. Confidence among German businesses seem to be holding up despite the recent banking turmoil, and the rise of borrowing costs.

On Wednesday, the RBA trimmed mean CPI, which is the Australian's central bank favoured reading of inflation, could move the Australian dollar. Economists expect the index growth to slow to 1.4% in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2022. Anything higher, closer to the 1.7% recorded three months ago, would make the RBA think twice ahead of their next decision on May 2nd. Last week, the RBA minutes revealed that Australian policymakers considered hiking rates for an 11th time last month. They decided to stay put at 3.6% in the end, but were nonetheless concerned by recent employment data. In particular, full-time employment surged by 72,200, after a similar increase in February, helping to keep the unemployment rate near 50-year lows. Since the RBA's last decision, its Governor Philip Lowe has been repeating that the pause in rate hikes did not imply that the increases were over.

The war of words is heating up between HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE) and its biggest shareholder Ping An, the latter accusing the bank of not giving its strategic ideas a sufficient hearing. The Chinese insurer has been urging the Bank to consider strategic options, one of them being the spinoff of its Asia business. HSBC's response was that these plans were discussed on around 20 occasions, but had consistently said they would destroy shareholder value and would be too costly to implement. Over the weekend, ISS, a HSBC shareholder advisor, sided with the bank on the issue, joining another advisor, Glass Lewis, who said last Tuesday that the Ping An plan lacked merit. Shareholders are due to vote on these options at the bank's AGM on May 5th.

A plethora of British companies are due to report earnings this week. Here are the most important: GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Standard Chartered PLC (LSE) on Wednesday. AstraZeneca is due to report the following day, alongside Sainsbury's and Barclays. and on Friday, Natwest.

Credit Suisse revealed this morning that CHF61 billion had been withdrawn in the first quarter, adding that "These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed". This announcement came alongside what is likely to be the last set of earnings published by the Swiss bank, as its marriage with UBS is expected to be completed soon. The group reported an adjusted pretax loss of CHF1.3Bln in the quarter. Common equity tier1 ratio rose to 20.3%, driven by the writedown of AT1 capital notes. Assets managed by CS wealth management division fell to CHF502.5Bln, from CHF707Bln reported for the same quarter a year ago.

Philips reported a much better-than-expected 47% jump in first-quarter core profit, to €359Mln. Revenue was also better than anticipated: €4.2Bln. Analysts had forecast €4.03Bln. But the group had to set aside €575Mln for possible litigation costs related to its global recall of respiratory machines.

Coca-Cola is set to report earnings. The street expects earnings of 64 cents per share, flat compared to the same quarter a year ago. First-quarter revenue is expected to rise about 3% to $10.79Bln. In the past 12 months, Coca-Cola's share price has declined by about 2.1% over the past 12 months. And there is plenty more to come this week, arguably the busiest of the quarter. Tomorrow, Microsoft, Alphabet, General Motors, Visa, McDonalds, followed on Wednesday by Boeing and Meta platform. On Thursday, the market expects reports from Amazon, Altria, Caterpillar, Intel, Snap and on Friday Chevron and Exxon Mobil. All these stocks are all sessions on the IG platform.