The Bank of Japan, given an uplift in inflation and strong gains in wage negotiations, is expected to tighten policy, a move that would dominate Tuesday’s session and upstage what is expected to be steady policy from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
There are no expectations for looser policy from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday nor the Bank of England on Thursday, though there is some talk that the Swiss National Bank, given noticeable weakness in Swiss inflation, could cut rates at its meeting on Thursday.
Slowing for industrial production and retail sales are the consensus calls for Chinese data on Monday that will cover the combined months of January and February. Yet such results would not be expected to trigger a further rate cut in the country’s loan prime rates on Wednesday.
Canadian CPI on Tuesday is expected to re-accelerate slightly in contrast to expected slowing for UK consumer prices on Wednesday. Japanese CPI data are expected to be mixed but rise sharply at the headline level on Friday.
New Zealand GDP on Thursday is expected to be marginally positive while Australia’s labour force survey, also on Thursday, is expected to rebound. Both UK and Canadian retail sales on Friday are expected to be weak. PMI flashes on Thursday are expected to show marginal improvement for Germany and for the Eurozone as a whole.