16th March 2020 to 20th March 2020
• CNY Industrial Production • China said its industrial output, retail sales and fixed income investment all fell a lot more than expected at the start of the year. Industrial output plunged 13.5% year-on-year in January and February, compared to the expected 3% contraction. Retail sales fell 20.5% in the period, versus a projected 4% fall. Fixed-asset investment dropped 24.5%, versus a forecast 2% decline. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate surged to 6.2%, the highest on record. The disappointing data came as the new coronavirus continued to spread globally and caused huge impact to factories and spending. The outbreak of the virus began in Wuhan and worsened in January, prompting China to restrict travel and business across the country. • GBP Average Earning Index • GBP Claimant Count Change • USD Core Retail Sales • EUR German ZEW Economic Sentiment German ZEW Economic Sentiment: Tuesday: 10:00. This key indicator slowed to 8.7 points in February, down sharply from 26.7 points a month earlier. Analysts are braced for a plunge in investor confidence, as much of the Eurozone economy has ground to a halt due to the coronavirus. The forecast for March stands at -25.0 points. • EUR Consumer Price Index CAD Core CPI Final CPI and Core CPI are both expected in at 1.2%, which would confirm the initial releases from earlier this month. Consumer inflation improved to 0.3% in January, up from 0.0% a month earlier. This figure beat the estimate of 0.2%. Trimmed CPI, which excludes the most volatile items in CPI, has posted two straight readings of 2.1%. We now await the February data. • AUD Employment Change • NZD Gross Domestic Product • USD FED Manufacturing The minutes provide details of the bank’s policy meeting earlier in March. At that meeting, the RBA lowered the benchmark rate from 0.75% to 0.50%. A pessimistic assessment by policymakers in the minutes could weigh on the Aussie. • EUR German PPI • CAD Core Retail Sales • USD Existing Home Sales The current account surplus narrowed to EUR 32.6 billion in December, down from 33.9 billion a month earlier. This was well off the estimate of 34.5 billion. The downtrend is expected to continue in January, with an estimate of 30.3 billion. Retail sales reports were mixed in December. The headline figure slipped to 0.0%, down sharply from 0.9% in the previous release. This reading was shy of the forecast of 0.1%. Core retail sales improved to 0.5%, up from 0.2% in November and above the estimate of 0.4%. We will now receive the January readings.Monday
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