<p>The world did not end last week on Friday the 13th. But the Syria missile launch on that day could be an ugly hangover for the coming weeks.</p><p>Over the weekend, missile attacks were launched on Syria by the US, together with the UK and France. This is in response to the alleged chemical attacks by the Syrian government. Russia tried but failed to get the strikes declared by the UN Security Council as a violation of international law.</p><p>US President Trump hailed the attacks as “Mission Accomplished” but we cautioned against brushing aside the risk of escalation in this longstanding conflict. The US remained “locked and loaded” to attack again should there be additional use of chemical attacks. Also, Russia President has warned of “chaos in international relations.” There could be more posturing from both nuclear powerhouses. Unless all parties come to the negotiation table, there is room for the Syrian conflict to be escalated further.</p><p>In Asia, the HKD remained on the soft side, trading at the weak end of the 7.75 -7.85 currency peg. This has triggered the HKMA to defend the peg by mopping up HKD and tightening liquidity. In Japan, allegations of corruption in a property scandal has hit the popularity of Prime Minister Abe. Thousands of protestors attended a rally in Tokyo calling for his resignation. His unpopularity could affect his election for the LDP leadership in September.</p><p>The US kicked off the earnings seasons last week with big banks such as JP Morgan and Citigroup reporting healthy earnings beat. More big banks such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are slated to report earnings this week. Besides the banks, we have other key benchmark companies releasing results this week and they include Johnson &amp; Johnson, United Health and IBM. In Asia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, China Mobile and Tata Consultancy are expected to report their earnings results this week. Positive earnings results would provide support to the equities market.</p><p><strong>Monday – 16 April 2018</strong><br />Macro data: US Retail Sales Advance<br />Earnings: US and Europe – Bank of America</p><p><strong>Tuesday – 17 April 2018</strong><br />Macro data: China GDP, Retail Sales and Industrial Production; US Industrial Production<br />Earnings: US and Europe – Goldman Sachs, Johnson &amp; Johnson, United Health, Netflix</p><p><strong>Wednesday – 18 April 2018</strong><br />Macro data: China Property Prices<br />Earnings: US and Europe – Morgan Stanley, Abbott Laboratories, IBM, ASML Holdings</p><p><strong>Thursday – 19 April 2018</strong><br />Macro data: US Fed Beige Book<br />Earnings: <br />US and Europe – BNY Mellon, Blackstone, American Express, Novartis AG<br />Asia – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Tata Consultancy, KB Financial, LG Chem</p><p><strong>Friday – 20 April 2018</strong><br />Earnings: <br />US and Europe – Proctor &amp; Gamble, General Electric, Honeywell, Schlumberger<br />Asia – China Mobile, China Unicom</p><p><strong>Edmund Chan, CFA</strong></p>