A mix of economic and political data is expected from Europe this week. The European Parliamentary elections results will now lead to negotiations for key political positions in the EU administration especially the president of the ECB. On the economic front, French preliminary GDP reports will be published over the week including as will the preliminary inflation report from Germany and Italy. Investors will also be paying attention to a rate decision from Hungary and economic growth data from Switzerland.
A number of events are lined up over the week in the United States including the GDP revised estimates and the PCE price index report. Last week saw a decline in both durable goods and home sales leading to a revised lower GDP estimate for the first quarter down to 3.1% from 3.2% as reported initially. Later in the week, the PCE price index report is expected to show that the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation is expected to rise 0.2% on the month.
The Bank of Canada will be holding its monetary policy meeting. However, no changes are expected to the central bank’s interest rate which remains at 1.75%. BoC hasn’t changed the rate since September last year due to uncertainty from the trade negotiations with the U.S. and the threat of slower global economic growth.
Economic data from Australia this week regarding building approvals and capex spending comes ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy meeting due for next week. Focus will be on whether or not the RBA will lower interest rates as widely speculated considering the slowdown in the Australian economy. Amid the rumours, following the RBA governor’s indications that the policy makers will consider rate cuts, the building approvals report and the capex spending could shed more light on the state of the economy.
Also in the Economic Calendar*:
Wednesday:
00:00 JPY BoJ’s Governor Kuroda speech
14:00 CAD BoC Interest Rate decision
Thursday:
12:30 USD Gross Domestic Product Annualised (Q1)
23:50 JPY Tokyo CPI (May)
Friday:
12:00 EUR German Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (May)
12:30 CAD Gross Domestic Producs (Q1)
