NexAsia Week Ahead: Fed minutes; U.S. inflation coming up

    Federal Reserve

    (Note: all times HKT)

    Good morning everyone. America and Europe are both set to regain the spotlight this week as the Federal Reserve gears up to release its highly-scrutinized FOMC minutes while Athens prepares itself for a – hopefully – early €3.2 billion repayment to the ECB. Currency traders meanwhile will be keeping their eye on Wednesday night’s U.S. inflation report – a key factor for the Fed to raise interest rates. It is expected to come in slightly higher at 0.12%. Also popping out of this week’s docket is the land of the rising sun’s GDP growth data. While the nation’s economy grew 1% in the first quarter, analysts are expecting it to contract 0.4% in the second. Here’s what else you need to know:

    Monday:

    7:50 am – Japan Preliminary Q2 YoY GDP Growth – Forecast: -2% from 3.9%

    7:50 am – Japan Preliminary Q2 QoQ GDP Growth – Forecast: -0.4% from 1%

    5:00 pm – Eurozone June Trade Balance – Forecast: €23.2 billion from €18.8 billion

    6:00 pm – Bundesbank Monthly Report

    Tuesday:

    9:30 am – Reserve Bank of Australia Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes

    9:30 am – China July YoY House Price Index

    4:00 pm – Bank Indonesia Interest Rate Decision – Forecast: unchanged at 7.5%

    4:30 pm – U.K. July YoY Inflation Rate – Forecast: unchanged at 0%

    4:30 pm – U.K. July YoY Core Inflation Rate – Forecast: 0.83% from 0.8%

    8:30 pm – U.S. July Building Permits – Forecast: 1.328 mio from 1.343 mio

    8:30 pm – U.S. July Housing Starts – Forecast: 1.153 mio from 1.174 mio

    Wednesday:

    2:00 am – Brazil August Business Confidence – Forecast: 37 from 37.2

    7:50 am – Japan July Balance of Trade – Forecast: – ¥69.6 billion from – ¥69 billion

    7:50 am – Japan July YoY Exports

    8:30 pm – U.S. July YoY Inflation Rate – Forecast: 0.12% from 0.1%

    8:30 pm – U.S. July YoY Core Inflation Rate – Forecast: 1.84% from 1.8%

    Thursday:

    2:00 am – Federal Reserve FOMC Minutes

    8:20 am – Minneapolis Fed President Kocherlakota Speech

    2:45 pm – San Francisco Fed President Williams Speech

    4:30 pm – U.K. July YoY Retail Sales – Forecast: 4.3% from 4%

    4:30 pm – U.K. July YoY Retail Sales ex-Fuel – Forecast: 4.3% from 4.2%

    8:00 pm – Brazil July Unemployment Rate – Forecast: Unchanged at 6.9%

    8:30 pm – U.S. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims – Forecast: 272,000 from 274,000

    10:00 pm – U.S. July Existing Home Sales – Forecast: 5.4 mio from 5.49 mio

    10:00 pm – U.S. August Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index – Forecast: 7.33 from 5.7

    Friday:

    9:45 am – China August Caixin General Manufacturing Flash PMI

    3:00 pm – Swiss National Bank Monthly Bulletin

    3:30 pm – Germany August Markit/BME Manufacturing Flash PMI – Forecast: 51.48 from 51.8

    3:30 pm – Germany August Markit Services Flash PMI – Forecast: 54.36 from 53.8

    8:30 pm – Canada July YoY Inflation Rate – Forecast: 1.2% from 1%

    8:30 pm – Canada July YoY Core Inflation Rate – Forecast: unchanged at 2.3%

    8:30 pm – Canada July MoM Retail Sales – Forecast: 0.29% from 1%

    10:00 pm – Eurozone August Flash Consumer Confidence – Forecast: -8.3 from -7.1

    Photo: istock