Most of this week’s events will be focused on the Pacific region, with both New Zealand and Japan releasing their respective monetary policy decisions. Find out more about these events below:
Event:Consumer Price Index (MoM/YoY, Feb) – China
Date:March 9, 2014
Time:1:30am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
This event happens on Sunday morning in China, with expectations of a 2.0% growth over the past 12 months, and a 0.8% growth from the previous month.
Update:The YoY figure was within expectations, while the monthly growth came out lower at 0.5%.
Event:GDP/GDP Annualised (QoQ/YoY, Q4) – Japan
Date:March 9, 2014
Time:11:50am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
The event will happen in the early morning of Monday in Japan, with the Annualised GDP expected to grow by 0.9% in Q4, while the QoQ growth for the GDP is seen to be at 0.3%.
Update:The Annualised GDP came out lower than expected at 0.7%, while the Q4 GDP was also lower at 0.2%.
Event:BoJ Interest Rate Decision – Japan
Date:March 11, 2014
Time:3:00am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
Japan’s interest rate is largely expected to remain at 0.1%, although it’s worth looking into the Bank of Japan’s statement for clues on their projection of the economy’s performance in the coming months.
Event:RBNZ Interest Rate Decision – New Zealand
Date:March 12, 2014
Time:8:00pm (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand already previously indicated that a rate hike is just around the corner. Thus, the market’s mindset at the moment is that the Bank will finally raise rates this month, from the current 2.5% to 2.75%.
Event:Employment Data (Feb) – Australia
Date:March 13, 2014
Time:12:30am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
Australia already expects unemployment to rise in the near term, although analysts expect it to stay at 6% at the moment. Meanwhile, employment change is seen to increase by 18,000, compared to the previous month’s contraction by 3,700.
Event:ECB Monthly Report – European Union
Date:March 13, 2014
Time:9:00am (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
Released by the European Central Bank, the report contains information about the Bank’s analysis of the region’s economic situation and risks to price stability.
Event:Retail Sales/Retail Sales Ex Autos (MoM, Feb) – United States
Date:March 13, 2014
Time:12:30pm (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
While the previous month’s retail sales went down by 0.4% and the figure excluding automobile sales remained flat, February’s projected data is a little more positive, with a 0.2% growth in retail sales and a 0.1% growth in retail sales ex autos.
Event:BoJ Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes – Japan
Date:March 13, 2014
Time:11:50pm (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
This event happens in the early morning of Friday in Japan. This will provide insight on the Bank of Japan’s outlook on the local economy.
Event:Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Mar) – United States
Date:March 14, 2014
Time:1:55pm (GMT)
What It Is About and Why It’s Important
Consumer Sentiment for March is seen to be a little more positive, with it improving to 81.9, from the previous month’s 81.6.
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