Yahoo Finance Economic Calendar - Top 5 Things to Watch This Week
Investing.com - Global financial markets will focus on this week's European Central Bank meeting for further details on how the central bank plans to taper its massive economic stimulus program.
Meanwhile, investors will keep an eye on a preliminary reading of third-quarter U.S. growth to further assess what the impact of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria was on economic activity and how it could affect the Federal Reserve's view on monetary policy.
In the U.K., market players will focus on the first estimate of U.K. third-quarter GDP for further hints on the health of the economy and the likelihood of the Bank of England raising interest rates this year.
Elsewhere, Japanese inflation data will be in focus as investors assess the need for further stimulus in the world's third's largest economy.
A monetary policy announcement from the Bank of Canada will also be on the agenda.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the five biggest events on the economic calendar that are most likely to affect the markets.
1. European Central Bank Policy Meeting
The European Central Bank's latest interest rate decision is due at 1145GMT (7:45AM ET) on Thursday, with no major policy changes expected.
Most of the focus will be on President Mario Draghi's press conference 45 minutes after the announcement, as investors look for more clues on when and how the ECB could start unwinding its monthly quantitative easing program.
Market experts believe the ECB will announce that it will start trimming its monthly asset purchases to €40 billion from the current €60 billion beginning in January. They were mostly split on whether the program would last six or nine more months after that.
Sources close to the ECB's pre-meeting discussions say the a nine-month extension seems likely with debate over monthly volumes between €25-and-€40 billion a month.
But the real issue will be whether to keep the asset buys open ended, making another extension possible, or signal an eventual end of bond purchases, as demanded by hawks, including powerhouse Germany.
Besides the ECB, market players will eye flash survey data on October euro zone business activity due on Tuesday to gauge the strength of the region's economy. There is also a survey on German business morale from the Ifo institute scheduled for Wednesday.
2. U.S. Advanced 3rd quarter GDP
The U.S. is to release preliminary figures on third-quarter economic growth at 8:30AM ET (1230GMT) Friday.
The report is expected to show growth slowing to an annual rate of 2.6% from 3.1%, with a decline in retail sales, industrial production, homebuilding and home sales blamed on Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Besides the GDP report, this week's calendar also features data on durable goods orders, new home sales and weekly jobless claims.
Interest rate futures are pricing in around a 90% chance of a December Fed rate hike according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool. The U.S. central bank has already raised rates twice this year.
Investors are also likely to continue to monitor the latest headlines coming out of Washington in regard to the Trump Administration's tax reform package.
Meanwhile, for the stock market, investors will digest a heavy week of earnings, with more than a third of the S&P 500 companies and 13 Dow stocks set to post results.
FANG names - Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – will garner most of the attention, as will Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Ford (NYSE:F).
3. UK Preliminary Q3 GDP
The Office for National Statistics is to produce preliminary data on U.K. economic growth for the third quarter at 0830GMT (4:30AM ET) on Wednesday.
The report is forecast to reveal the economy grew 0.3% in the three months ended September 30, after expanding at the same rate in the previous three-month period.
On an annualized rate, the British economy is expected to grow 1.4% in the third quarter, slowing from growth of 1.5% in the preceding quarter.
Recent data has painted a subdued picture of the economy just as the BoE prepares to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade. The UK central bank said in September that it was likely to raise borrowing costs in the months ahead if the economy and price pressures kept growing.
Politics is likely to be at the back of investors' minds, as they keep an ear out for any news regarding the Brexit negotiations.
4. Japan Inflation Data
Japan's Statistics Bureau will publish October inflation figures at 2330GMT Thursday (7:30PM ET). Market analysts expect the headline figure to remain positive, rising 0.8% year-on-year, which would be the ninth straight month of annual increases.
But the modest year-on-year increase will be well off the Bank of Japan's target and keep the central bank under pressure to maintain its massive monetary stimulus.
The BoJ last month pushed back the timing for achieving its 2% inflation target, reinforcing expectations that it will lag other central banks in tightening monetary policy.
Sunday's national election will also grab some attention, as Japanese voters get set to deliver their verdict on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nearly five years in power.
Media forecasts show Abe's gamble on the snap poll is likely to pay off, with his conservative Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition closing in on the two-thirds "super majority" it had in parliament's lower house before dissolution.
A hefty victory would raise the likelihood that Abe, who took office in December 2012 promising to bolster defense and reboot the economy, will win a third term as LDP leader next September and go on to become Japan's longest-serving premier.
5. Bank of Canada Rate Decision
The Bank of Canada's interest rate decision is due at 10:00AM ET (1400GMT) on Wednesday, with most experts expecting the central bank to hold its benchmark rate at 1.0%.
The BOC surprised many by hiking rates for the second consecutive time at its previous meeting in September.
Market odds of no move at this week's meeting rose to 81% from 73% after data on Friday showed that retail sales unexpectedly fell in August, pointing to a slowdown in growth after a hot first half of the year.
Still, many are betting the central bank will have room to hike again in December, with market odds at around 50%.
Stay up-to-date on all of this week's economic events by visiting: http://www.investing.com/economic-calendar/
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Economic Calendar - Top 5 Things to Watch This Week
