FYI | Jan 13 2008
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
The corporate calendar in Australia remains pretty quiet in the week ahead with a few shareholder meetings scheduled in and -of course- more news to be expected about troubled Centro Properties ((CNP)). However, after central bankers on the European continent and in London decided to keep interest rates unchanged last week investor attention will be firmly focused on the US, especially since US shares closed again weaker on Friday, extending their losing streak to three consecutive weeks, or put simply: every week so far in 2008 has seen US shares shed value.
It just so happens to be that the US reporting season is ramping up while the US data calendar is becoming increasingly busy as well. Enough to guarantee ongoing volatility and investor mood swings. Especially since the market has started to count on a 50 basis points cut instead of 25 at the next FOMC meeting at the end of the month.
This week’s major releases in the US are retail sales, CPI, housing starts and the University of Michigan consumer confidence index. In addition, the US Treasury will be announcing the details of its 20-year TIPS auction while Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (BB) will be testifying on the “Near-Term Economic Outlook” before the House Budget Committee in Washington. Fed Presidents Fisher, Lockhart and Lacker are also scheduled to speak while the Fed Beige book will be released for the January 29-30 FOMC meeting.
The Australian data calendar is equally busy with housing finance, the WBC-MI consumer confidence index, the TD-MI inflation gauge for December, MI consumer inflation expectations survey and labour force data for December all scheduled for the coming week. RBA Governor Stevens will be speaking on “Economic Prospects in 2008” in London on 12:20 AEST, 19 January. ANZ will be publishing its regular job ads survey on Monday.
The data calendar in New Zealand equally picks up this week. The main releases are Q4 CPI and retail sales.
In Japan, the main releases are machine orders, the current account, industrial production, the tertiary industry index and consumer confidence while China should release the trade balance and foreign exchange reserves and -sometime between 17-24 January- PPI, retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment.
The main Euro-Zone releases are industrial production, CPI and the trade balance. In Germany, the main releases are CPI and the ZEW economic sentiment index. The main releases in the UK are the RICS house price balance, CPI, the unemployment rate and retail sales.
For more information see the detailed calendar on the FNArena website.
