Welcome to the easyMarkets weekly outlook starting this Monday, June 19. We’ll be looking at the week’s key economic events on the financial calendar covering Monday to Thursday.
Event: RBA Meeting Minutes
Date: Tuesday 20 June 2017 at 01:30 GMT
Markets affected: AUD/USD
Trending hashtags: #aud, #rba
The Reserve Bank of Australia will release minutes from their monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. The minutes look at recent decisions taken by the bank in more detail regarding the economic stats of the nation and the influences on the cash rate decision. Hawkish minutes might give the Aussie bulls some action, whereas the bears will be on the lookout for more dovish tones.
Event: ECB Policy Meeting
Date: Wednesday 21 June 2017 at 07:0 GMT
Markets affected: EUR/USD, EUR/GBP
Trending hashtags: #eur, #ecb
With the Fed and ECB diverging even further in their monetary policies many will be watching Wednesday’s meeting for indications on when the European Central Bank may look to normalise monetary policy. The FOMC has been tightening policy while the ECB continues to print money and investors are essentially on the look out for liquidity flows. So far the ECB’s injections of capital are proving more attractive to investors than the increase of interest rates across the Atlantic by the Fed.
Event: RBNZ Interest Rate Decision
Date: Wednesday 21 June 2017 at 21:00 GMT
Markets affected: NZD/USD, AUD/NZD
Trending hashtags: #nzd, #rbnz
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has maintained record low interest rates at 1.75% and analysts are not expecting that to change. Policymakers comments recently have been non-committal which is why many are not expecting any changes to the rate this time round.
Event: US Fed Initial Jobless Claims
Date: Thursday 22 June 2017 at 12:30 GMT
Markets affected: EUR/USD, GBP/USD
Trending hashtags: #usd, #jobs
Last week’s jobless claims in the US saw 237,000 applying for the unemployment benefit. The figure was beneath expectations of 242,000 signalling positive jobs market that may reinforce the Fed’s intentions to raise interest rates once more this year. For the week ending 10 June, those claiming for benefits dropped 8,000 to 237,000 according to the Labour Department. Despite moderate inflation rates, another good week of jobs data will fuel the market’s anticipation of the next interest rate increase.
