Trade tensions, US earnings on tap this week

US earnings, continued trade tensions, and inflationary fears ahead of the May meeting of the Federal Reserve will continue to drive investor sentiment and trading this week.

Wall Street finished lower last Friday on concerns about higher interest rates and tech giant Apple's prospects.

IG market strategist Pan Jingyi expected the impact of the US earnings season to continue trickling down to Asian markets. This week promises to be a significant one for global equity markets, she said.

"Approximately 35 per cent of the companies on the comprehensive S&P 500 index will be due to deliver their earnings report ... Of the 15 per cent that had reported thus far, we have certainly seen a pleasing 88 per cent that had either met or exceeded consensus, though the impact had been rather limited for a cauti…