Frank Kel­ly’s Week Ahead | April 5, 2026

While Washington is relatively quiet this week as Congress remains out on break, the calm will be short-lived as the coming weeks will be extremely busy. Additionally, the geopolitical week ahead will again be dominated by the escalating war in Iran.

U.S. Financial Regulatory Week Ahead

SEC prepares to release quarterly reporting reform
This week, SEC Chair Paul Atkins is speaking at two events – one at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and the second in Miami at the Texas Stock Exchange event with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Atkins and the SEC are preparing to release a proposed reform that would allow publicly traded companies to stop issuing quarterly reports and switch to semi-annual reports. There is already significant pushback from major Wall Street firms, including BlackRock, Citadel, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. No specific date has been set for the proposal’s release, but it is expected sometime in April.

Congress gets worried about prediction markets
Turning to Congress, House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he expects to “bring out a series of reforms in the House” soon that deal with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Chair Hill has not detailed exactly what the exact proposals will be, but we are aware that there have been a series of coordination meetings with the White House to work out details.

Congress is also beginning to focus on the prediction markets. A number of Congressional offices are now banning their staff from using them and growing chatter suggests legislation to regulate are likely on the way. Bipartisan concern mushroomed in recent weeks after unusual trading was detected as the U.S. war with Iran was coming, suggesting insider activity.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicated last week that it will move aggressively to root out insider trading in predictive markets. But the CFTC is also moving aggressively to fight state regulation of prediction markets, filing lawsuits recently against Illinois, Connecticut, and Arizona to block their efforts to implement their own regulatory and enforcement measures.

Also last week, the Department of Labor finally unveiled a proposed rule allowing 401(k) plans to invest in private markets, crypto, private equity, and real estate. The proposal comes seven months after President Trump signed an executive order directing regulator to draw up the proposal.

Treasury focuses on insurance industry’s investments in private credit
We would also note that the U.S. Treasury Department announced late last week they will convene a series of “conversations” with domestic and international insurance regulators focused on recent developments in private credit markets. No exact dates for the meetings have been released yet, but they are expected to commence later this month.

IMF/World Bank meetings
Finally, next week is going to be extremely busy here in Washington with the Spring International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank meetings. Finance ministers and central banks and a good number of financial regulators will descend on the Capitol for innumerable meetings and side-bar discussions. In particular, we will be watching the release of Chapter 2 of the International Monetary Fund’s April 2026 Global Financial Stability Report, which assesses the growing role of nonbank investors in emerging market finance.

Fed Chair nominee hearing
Additionally, Federal Reserve Board Chair nominee Kevin Warsh will have his confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee on April 16th. But his final confirmation will be blocked by a number of senators who have vowed to hold it up until the criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jay Powell is dropped. A federal judge this past Friday again rejected the Department of Justice’s effort to revive subpoenas of the Federal Reserve as part of the investigation, effectively rendering the effort moot.

Geopolitical Week Ahead

Iran facing Trump’s latest deadline
On Monday morning, the latest deadline President Trump gave Iranian leaders to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or, according to a profane Truth Social post, Iran will face massive bombings “and complete destruction” of all Iranian electrical power plants, bridges, and other civilian infrastructure.

President Trump suggested in a press interview Sunday that his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are working through back channels to find a peaceful solution. However, most observers we have spoken to in the Trump Administration are highly pessimistic that a deal could be reached before the 10 a.m. EST deadline on Monday.

Taiwan’s opposition leader travels to Beijing for meetings
As we said, the Iran situation will dominate global markets' attention, but there is an interesting event taking place this week in China. Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party (KMT) opposition leader, Cheng Li-wun, will be traveling to Beijing for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior Chinese leaders. Cheng is going at the invitation of President Xi and is considered a high-stakes gambit. But it could also lead to further meetings between senior KMT officials and Beijing to de-escalate tensions between Taiwan and China. She makes the trip as the KMT continue to stall legislation in parliament funding an additional $40 billion in defense spending.

Peru and Hungary hold elections
Two major elections are taking place this week, in Hungary and Peru. Hungary's parliamentary elections on Sunday are shaping up to be a difficult battle for 16-year incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Polls suggest the race is neck and neck between Orbán's Fidesz Party and challenger Péter Magyar's Tisza Party. Orbán, a close ally of both President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked President Trump to campaign for him this week. However, with Trump preoccupied by the Iran conflict, Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to travel to Budapest to meet with Orbán.

In Peru, a record 35 candidates are running for president. The latest polls suggest conservative Keiko Fujimori — running for president for the fourth time — holds the lead, though a runoff is almost certain given the size of the field. The elections come after a prolonged period of political instability. Former President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress in December 2022 and was subsequently impeached. His Vice President, Dina Boluarte, assumed the presidency but was removed by Congress in October 2025 for "moral incapacity." She was succeeded by the President of Congress, José Jeri, who became the country's seventh president in nine years — only to be removed in February 2026 after it emerged that he had held undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman under government investigation. Jeri was replaced by José María Balcázar, then President of Congress, who assumed the interim presidency — the eighth in nine years — to oversee the transition to these elections.

Global economic and financial radar screen: Markets brace for the first economic reports reflecting the impact of the Iran war
Looking at the global economic and financial radar screen this week, markets will be looking at the U.S. March Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Friday. That report is expected to kick off a series of reports showing the negative impact of the Iran War on the global economy.

Also on the U.S. calendar this week: the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, the March Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Services report (Monday), the February Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) (Thursday), and the preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey (Friday).

In Europe, the European Central Bank's Governing Council will convene for a retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the economic outlook. Germany also releases trade and industrial production figures this week.

In Asia, China releases its March Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports on Friday. Japan publishes the Economy Watchers Survey on Wednesday, Consumer Confidence on Thursday, and PPI on Friday. The Bank of Korea meets on interest rates — with no change expected — and Taiwan reports CPI on Wednesday.