Reuters/Alexander Nemenov
Russian President Vladimir Putin arriving to chair a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Here is what you need to know.The French election is coming. France will go to the polls Sunday for the first round of its presidential election. Four candidates are within percentage points of one another in the polls, but only two will advance.
Europe's economic renaissance shows no signs of slowing down. "By country, faster business activity growth in France - the strongest seen since May 2011 - was offset by a moderation in Germany, albeit with the pace of German expansion still running at one of the fastest seen over the past six years," a release from Markit announcing the data said.
UK retail sales whiff. Retail sales fell by 1.4% in the first quarter, making for "the third consecutive decrease for the underlying 3 month on 3 month pattern," according to the Office for National Statistics.
China is fighting back against fake economic data. The Chinese government has created an economic task force aimed at improving the quality of economic data, Bloomberg says, citing the National Bureau of Statistics.
The Borussia Dortmund bus attack may have been an attempt to manipulate the markets. Prosecutors say the man accused of planting explosive devices on the Borussia Dortmund team bus that injured Spanish defender Marc Bartra bought 15,000 put options on Borussia Dortmund's stock before the bombing.
Deutsche Bank breaks the Volker Rule. The German investment bank was fined about $157 million for allowing traders to make risky bets and for allowing currency traders to chat online with competitors, Bloomberg says.
Visa's total payments spike. The world's largest payments operator earned $0.86 a share as operating revenue jumped 23.5% to $4.48 billion. Visa says total payments volume spiked 37.2% versus a year ago.
Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+1%) led the gains in Asia, and France's CAC (-0.6%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,356.
Earnings reports flow. General Electric, Honeywell, Schlumberger, and SunTrust are among the names reporting before the opening bell.
US economic data is moderate. Markit manufacturing PMI and Markit services PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET before existing-home sales cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 2.23%.