April 24 (Reuters) - Next week combines the big three

obsessions for investors right now - the war in Iran, the path

of interest rates and the AI boom.

Four of the world's top central banks meet, wondering how

long they can realistically look through the spike in global

energy prices due to the blocked Strait of Hormuz, while five of

the so-called "Magnificent Seven" U.S. tech giants report their

earnings.

Here's all you need to know about the coming week in

financial markets by Marc Jones and Dhara Ranasinghe in London,

Lewis Krauskopf in New York and Rae Wee in Singapore.

1/CORRIDOR OF POWER

Next week, like the eight weeks that have gone before it,

will be dominated by whether progress can be made in the Iran

war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime chokepoint

that is now the key power-play in the conflict.

Iran has been flaunting its tightened grip over the shipping

corridor and though there has been some relief that Washington

and Tehran and Israel and Lebanon have extended respective

ceasefires, the fact oil is well over $100 a barrel again shows

just what the markets think.

Diplomacy, any sign of back-channel talks and U.S. President

Donald Trump and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba

Khamenei's social media posts will all continue to drive

volatility, especially with Trump now saying he will not be

rushed into a deal as he wants something that is "everlasting".

The prolonged conflict is also deepening the fissure between

the U.S. and NATO. Trump has repeatedly criticised the

alliance's members for failing to support his attacks on Iran

and Washington is now weighing punishing "difficult" countries,

such as Spain, according to officials.

2/KA-POWELL!

The world's most influential central bank, the Federal

Reserve, is expected to keep U.S. interest rates steady on

Wednesday, meaning it will mostly be about its signals for the

months ahead given most economists think cuts are off the table

for now.

An intriguing subplot is whether this will be Jerome

Powell's last meeting in charge, or even if he attends in the

future, given his broader stint as a Fed governor - which runs

until 2028 - is also under attack.

The 73-year-old's term as Fed chair is due to end next month

so this should be his swansong. But a key U.S. senator is vowing

to block Trump's pick for Powell's successor - former Fed

governor Kevin Warsh - until a probe into Powell's renovations

of the Fed's headquarters is dropped.

There will be some key data to digest too. First-quarter GDP

and then March personal consumption expenditures price index

(PCE) - the Fed's preferred inflation gauge - are both due out

on Thursday.

3/BIG TECH'S BIG WEEK

Reports from five of the so-called "Magnificent Seven"

megacap companies headline a deluge of first-quarter earnings

next week.

It comes at a time where almost unshakable investor optimism

about AI-driven profits is providing a critical support for

near-record high equity indexes.

On Wednesday alone, reports are due from Alphabet,

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN ) and Meta - four

"hyperscalers" now spending billions on data centres and other

high tech infrastructure.

iPhone maker Apple ( AAPL ) reports the day after, hot on

the heels of news that it has picked longtime hardware boss John

Ternus to take over the CEO reins from Tim Cook, 15 years after

he took over from Apple's ( AAPL ) co-founder Steve Jobs.

It is not just tech though. More than a third of the S&P 500

are reporting next week, including weight-loss drugmaker Eli

Lilly ( LLY ), oil major Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) and credit card

giant Visa.

4/ OPTIONALITY

Both the European Central Bank and Bank of England are

tipped to leave their respective 2% and 3.75% key interest rates

steady on Thursday, having both deliberately dampened bets of

pre-emptive hikes over the last fortnight.

The shaky Iran war ceasefire has earned a bit of breathing

space of sorts, but with oil already back above $100 again,

money markets still anticipate both will have hiked twice before

the year is out.

Optionality will be the watchword. ECB chief Christine

Lagarde will be pressed on just how likely a pre-summer increase

is. She certainly will not want a repeat of the hike-too-early

error another French ECB chief, Jean-Claude Trichet, oversaw

just before the eruption of the euro zone crisis.

For the BoE in London, Governor Andrew Bailey has already

warned markets they are getting ahead of themselves and given

how nervy domestic politics is making gilt markets, he is

walking a tightrope too.

5/GOING SLOW

The Bank of Japan completes the list of major central banks

in action. Its meeting on Tuesday will start the procession and,

just like in the U.S. and Europe, what had appeared to be a

window for a rate hike, now looks like another one to sit on its

hands.

Sources have told Reuters Kazuo Ueda and co are likely to

need more time to assess the fallout from the Middle East war,

but observers expect them to leave the door wide open for a hike

in June.

Some are worried that they may be getting behind the curve.

Even the head of the Asian Development Bank has warned that the

yen could come under further pressure if markets think the BOJ

is being too slow given the inflationary risks.

For now the Japanese currency continues to languish near 160

to the dollar. That is a level investors have long viewed

as a potential trigger point for FX market intervention. They

are still waiting though.

(Graphics by Prinz Magtulis; Compiled by Marc Jones; Editing by

Alison Williams)