Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday, March 17:
1. U.S. Treasury Secretary to focus on currency valuation at G20
G20 finance ministers and central bankers were gathered Friday in Baden-Baden, Germany for a two-meeting.
In what will be U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s first official appearance after being appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, he is widely expected to put pressure on China, Japan,
Germany and other G20 members to keep their promise to not use their exchange rates for competitive gains.
Officials are also expected to put free trade high on the agenda given Trump’s protectionist rhetoric.
2. Trump to host Merkel in Washington
Trump’s calendar will be replete with activities with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday as the U.S. President meets with the leader of the euro zone’s number one economy for the first time since taking office.
Tensions may be high as Trump criticized Merkel during his campaign for “ruining Germany” due to her acceptance of a large number of refugees, while the German chancellor later shot back with criticism over the travel ban.
Meanwhile, German economy minister Brigitte Zypries said on Deutschlandfunk radio on Friday that Germany could file a suit against U.S. President Donald Trump over a proposed border tax.
Trade negotiations, along with discussions over NATO, are expended to be high on the agenda as Merkel seeks to gauge Trump’s protectionist rhetoric.
Both leaders are scheduled to give for a joint press conference at 1:20PM ET (18:20GMT).
3. U.S. consumer confidence and industrial production on tap
In the data spotlight for Friday’s session, market players will digest the data on March consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT) with experts expecting the preliminary reading to tick up to 97.0, from February’s 96.3.
Also on watch, industrial production for February will be released 9:15AM ET (13:15GMT).
While waiting for Friday’s data, the dollar continued to slide against major rivals, on track for weekly losses of around 1% after the Federal Reserve (Fed) said Wednesday it was unlikely to speed up monetary tightening.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.09% at 100.00 by 6:03AM ET (10:03GMT).
4. OPEC will need to extend output curbs to sustain oil price recovery
Analysts expect that the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will have to extend its oil output curbs in order to sustain a recovery in prices, as a revival in crude production outside the group may hinder its efforts to do away with the global supply glut, according to a poll released on Friday.
Six of the 10 economists surveyed by Reuters expect the cartel to extend the production cut agreement beyond June, while two remained uncertain and the other two felt an extension would be unnecessary.
Several OPEC energy ministers have indicated that the decision would be made in May.
Oil prices moved higher on Friday, on track to record its first weekly gain this month, thanks to weekly data showing a drop in U.S. inventories.
U.S. crude oil futures gained 0.45% to $48.97 at 6:04AM ET (10:04GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.43% to $51.96.
Investors still looked to wekly data on U.S. drilling activity from Baker Hughes out later on Friday.
Last week the oil services provider said that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 8, the eighth weekly increase in a row. That brought the total count to 617, the most since October 2015.
5. Global stocks mixed as G20 eyed
Global stocks showed mixed trade on Friday as investors kept an eye on the meeting of G20 central bankers and finance ministers in Germany.
U.S. futures pointed to a flat open with mixed signs, though Wall Street was still on track to eke out slight weekly gains. At 6:05AM ET (10:05GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures pulled back 0.04%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.02% and the Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 0.02%.
European stocks traded mixed, after hitting record levels on Thursday. The benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.25% and London’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.03%, though Germany’s DAX lost 0.13%.
Earlier, Asia ended lower with Chinese stocks off 0.92% and Japan’s Nikkei down 0.35%.