This week features a number of countries that will announce their respective Consumer Price Indices. And as always, it pays (literally and figuratively) to keep track of these important announcements, as these are sure to affect the majors.
Check out some of the most important economic events for the week of Apr 15-19:
Event: Gross Domestic Product (Q1 and YoY) – China
Date: April 15, 2013
Time: 2:00am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
China is just fresh off last week’s announcement that its Consumer Price Index in March went from 1.1% to -0.9%, beating expectations of it dropping by just -0.6%. For this week, it is set to announce its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Q1 and YoY figures. Due to its influence on the global economy, a high reading of the GDP is certain to positively affect economies closely tied to it, such as Australia. We are set to find out if the Chinese economy is actually close to slowing down at the moment.
Update: China’s Q1 GDP fell from the previous 2.0% to just 1.6%, lower than earlier speculations that it will just drop by 1.9%. Meanwhile, the YoY GDP for Q1 also fell from 7.9% to 7.7%, contrary to expectations that it will rise slightly to 8.0%.
Event: Consumer Price Index (MoM, YoY, Mar) – UK
Date: April 16, 2013
Time: 8:30am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of the movement of prices of a representative basket of goods of a particular economy. When it rises, then it indicates inflation of the economy, that is, the prices of the products in the basket of goods have risen. When this happens, the central bank could then decide to raise interest rates, which is positive (bullish) on the country’s currency.
The UK’s current CPI is at 2.8% and is expected to remain flat on a YoY basis. Meanwhile, its MoM figure is at 0.7%, which is then expected to drop to 0.3%. As usual, stay tuned for more updates on this.
Event: Core Consumer Price Index (YoY, Mar) – EU
Date: April 16, 2013
Time: 9:00am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
The core CPI is like the CPI but removes volatile products (those with prices that regularly fluctuate), such as food, alcohol and energy. As such, investors view the core CPI as a more accurate indicator of inflation in a particular country. The EU’s core CPI is currently at 1.3% per cent.
The European Monetary Union is also set to announcement the YoY and MoM CPI for March. YoY figure is at 1.8% and is expected to drop to 1.7%, while the MoM is at 0.4% and is seen to rise to 1.1%.
Event: Consumer Price Index (MoM, YoY Mar) – United States
Date: April 16, 2013
Time: 12:30am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
As investors await a full recovery of the US, they closely watch developments in its economy, particularly the CPI. The Fed is set to make an announcement on its CPI, as well as its CPI that excludes food and energy. The current YoY CPI is at 2.0%, and is expected to drop to 1.7%. The MoM figure, meanwhile, is seen to drop from 0.7% to 0.1%. Then the CPI excluding food and energy is at 2%.
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