It was another huge week for investors last week, with more milestones being hit across various sectors, but also a plethora of central bank updates, mainly from the Fed, as well as a big data dump, culminating in another big non-Farms number. The week ahead looks to be a ‘game of two halves’ with little on the event calendar for the first couple of days before we are hit with some major central bank rate calls as well as more big data releases.
A quiet calendar start to the week again, traders in the antipodes will be adjusting their clocks to make sure they hit their desks on time as they move into the southern hemisphere winter period. There is nothing on the agenda in the Asian trading session, but things should liven up once Europe enters the fray. We are due to hear from SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan early in the day when he talks at an SNB function and then later we also hear from the MPC’s Sarah Breedon who is speaking at the same event
From the event calendar, it looks to be very much the calm before the storm on Tuesday with just Australian confidence numbers from NAB and Westpac due in the Asian session and very little scheduled for later in the day.
The calendar heats up from the off on Wednesday with the RBNZ bringing New Zealand into focus early in the Asian session with its latest rate call. New Loans numbers out of China will also attract investors’ attention later in the day. The European session has little on the calendar, but we have potentially the session of the week once New York opens. First up we have the key US CPI inflation data due out before attention jumps north of the border to Ottawa and the Bank of Canada’s rate call. Traders will then have a few hours to digest those updates before the FOMC’s latest meeting minutes are released towards the end of the day.
Investors are likely to still be evaluating the inflation data from the world’s largest economy in the Asian session when the world’s second-largest economy’s CPI and PPI data is then released from Beijing. The European Central Bank will come sharply into focus on the London open when they announce their latest rate call and associated updates. The US session is set to be another lively one with more inflation data due out, this time in the form of the PPI numbers, which are released alongside the usual weekly unemployment claims data.
It should be a quieter end to the week than last week with just a couple of key data releases scheduled on Friday. There is nothing due out in the first trading session of the day, but investor focus will swing to the UK on the European open with the latest GDP number being released. The US session sees key data from the University of Michigan released, with both the Preliminary Consumer Sentiment data and the Inflation expectations numbers set to be released before traders can look forward to a couple of days’ respite on the weekend.
