SYDNEY : Asian shares started cautiously on Monday in a week packed with economic data and central bank meetings, along with earnings from the tech giants that have kept the S&P 500 afloat so far this year.
"We believe stalwarts Microsoft, Amazon and Google should all deliver cloud results that meet and likely exceed Street 1Q expectations this week despite recent noise in the market," said analysts at Wedbush Securities. Figures on U.S. wages and economic growth due this week will likely reinforce the case for further tightening. The Atlanta Fed's influential GDP Now tracker has the U.S economy growing an annualised 2.5 per cent in the first quarter, only a shade slower than the previous quarter.