Central bank activities dominate global business and economic events this week, along with a major Apple product launch.
There will be monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan, all of which are struggling to gauge the health of their economies in the wake of the continuing COVID-19 infections and earlier lockdowns.
There’s the last drop of important economic data from China for last month.
In Australia, there’s also August jobs data, as well as the minutes from the September monetary policy meeting of the Reserve Bank.
Economists are looking for a modest rise in new jobs outside of Victoria where the lockdowns in August will produce a rise in jobless numbers and a rise in the unemployment rate.
New Zealand releases its June quarter GDP and national accounts on Wednesday.
The next major focus globally will be the two day Fed policy meeting, where the US central bank will update its economic projections.
Investors will be watching for any new details on its new framework that will include allowing inflation to run higher than previously and unemployment to continue falling before raising interest rates.
The post-meeting statement and new forecasts from the Fed are why economists will be especially interested in what the post-meeting statement says about the new inflation target policy and the current state of the economy.
Apple’s product launch on Tuesday (Wednesday in Australia) will be watched closely by investors (see separate story).
The US also publishes updated trade data, the deficit of which has recently ballooned to the highest since the global financial crisis.
Retail sales for August will also be issued on Wednesday, before the release of the post-meeting statement from the Fed: watch for data on sales of used car and building products which are reportedly booming.
The Bank of England decision will come against the backdrop of a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases and surging unemployment. For that reason, many economists are looking for a major boost of lending schemes from the UK central bank.
In the Eurozone, there are trade and production data that will come at a time when Spain and France are seeing a major upturn in COVID-19 cases.
The Bank of Japan won’t change policy at its meeting on Thursday with a new Prime Minister to replace Shinzo Abe, to be selected later today.
For that reason, Japan’s weak economy will continue to wander.
In China, today sees the release of the latest house price index and car sales data for August while tomorrow sees the release of August data for fixed asset investment, industrial production, retail sales, and employment numbers.
