Looking Ahead: April 1 through April 5, 2013

Front and center last week were the crises in Cyprus and Italy. While Cyprus agreed to a restructured bailout package, the political impasse in Italy remains with no solution in sight. The Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of England and European Central Bank announce their respective monetary policy decisions. However, the focus will be on the Bank of Japan and the first announcement from new governor Haruhiko Kuroda. Expectations are high for aggressive moves to finally hoist the economy from its malaise and defeat the over 15 years of deflation. Elsewhere, investors will be monitoring the plethora of purchasing managers’ indexes globally but especially from China, the Eurozone and the U.S. The week draws to an end with the U.S. employment situation report.