5 Things to Watch in the Economic Calendar Next Week

Summary:
• Here are the key events to watch in the economic calendar in the coming week including BOC, BOJ, and ECB interest rate decision and corporate earnings

The economic calendar was relatively calm this week. The only major events in it were the RBA interest rate decision and the Canadian jobs numbers. The US dollar weakened against key currencies while gold price reached the highest level in more than 7 years. Global stocks wavered as US tensions with China and coronavirus numbers rose. Here are the 5 key events to watch in the economic calendar in the coming week.

Bank of Canada interest rate decision

Data released this week showed that the Canadian economy is in a good place. Exports are rising and the country’s employers are adding thousands of jobs. They added more than 900k jobs in June while the unemployment rate dropped to 12.3%. It is against this backdrop that the Bank of Canada will conduct its monthly meeting. Analysts expect that the bank will leave interest rates unchanged and sound cautious about the ongoing recovery.

Other Canadian data to watch in the economic calendar in the coming week will be the Ivey PMIs, manufacturing sales, CPIs, ADP nonfarm employment numbers, and wholesale sales.

ECB interest rate decision

The euro has been among the best-performing currencies in the G10 this week. In general, investors are optimistic about the Eurozone’s economic prospects now that most countries have made progress on coronavirus. The biggest focus among traders in the coming week will be about the ECB interest rate decision that will happen on Thursday. Analysts expect the bank will leave rates unchanged. They will also commit to continue with the quantitative easing program that is going on.

Other data in the economic calendar from Europe will be the CPI, trade balance, and industrial production data.

Bank of Japan

The Japanese economy was in trouble even before the current pandemic. While the economy is making some progress, the road to recovery remains long. That is according to the recent manufacturing and services PMI numbers and business sentiment. Also, many Japanese companies have talked about the challenges they are facing. Therefore, the Bank of Japan will be in the spotlight when it delivers its interest rate decision on Wednesday. As with the BOC and ECB, most analysts believe that the BOJ will leave rates unchanged and continue with the QE.

Other important events in the economic calendar will be the May capacity utilisation, industrial production, and national core CPI data.

UK data

The British pound has been relatively stable this week. It seems analysts and traders are no longer worrying about Brexit risks. It also could be because there was no major economic releases from the UK this week. This will change next week. On Monday, the ONS will release the country’s GDP numbers together with industrial production, manufacturing production, retail sales, and trade data. On Wednesday, it will release inflation numbers. Analysts expect that the headline CPI dropped to -0.2% in June while the core CPI remained unchanged at 1.2%. On Thursday, it will release the car registration data and average earnings.

Corporate earnings

Brace yourself for a busy corporate earnings week. In the coming week, hundreds of leading companies will release their second quarter earnings. Among the key European firms to watch will be Ocado, ASML Holdings, Axfood, and Burberry. In the United States, we will be looking at Wall Street banks and other blue chip companies. Among the key firms to watch will be Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon, and PNC Financial.