Starting today, February 20th, we’ll be looking at the week’s key economic events on the financial calendar covering Monday thru Thursday. Be sure to catch up with our Friday morning report that looks back at how the events played out and with a look at Friday’s events. This week is sandwiched between two key Australian events, we get the UK GDP data, CPI out of Europe, Retail Sales from Canada and we’ll get the report from the US FOMC meeting.
Event: Australia RBA Meeting’s Minutes
Date: Tuesday 21 February 2017 at 00:30 GMT
Markets affected: AUD/USD
Trending hashtags: #aussie, #aud, #rba
The Reserve Bank of Australia will release their meeting minutes giving an account of their monetary policy discussion. It provides a glimpse into different bank members’ views. A hawkish view on reaching inflation targets may indicate an interest rate hike in the future which may be positive for the Aussie dollar.
Event: UK GDP Data Q4
Date: Wednesday 22 February 2017 at 09:30 GMT
Markets affected: GBP/USD, EUR/GBP
Trending hashtags: #gbp , #gdp, #sterling
Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter in the UK was confirmed at 0.5% growth with consumer spending being the main driving force behind it. A weak pound has resulted in a positive balance of payments with exports ahead of imports. Analysts are expecting a drop in growth to 1.4% for this year compared to last year’s 2.1% growth due to a contraction in business investments. For this Q4 data release, economists are forecasting 0.6% growth, anything much different on either side of that figure may have repercussions on the pound.
Event: EU Consumer Price Index – core Y-o-Y (January)
Date: Wednesday 22 February 2017 at 10:00 GMT
Markets affected: EUR/USD, EUR/GBP
Trending hashtags: #eur, #cpi
Eurostat will release the changes in the prices of goods and services on Wednesday. This is a key reading in understanding purchasing trends and inflation in general for the Eurozone. Last reading came in at 1.8% and analysist are expecting a similar result this time round, however a high reading may be bullish for the euro.
