Market Movers ahead
- In the US the main event is the February retail sales data. The past couple of months have been strong. However, February data is set to look bleaker as snow storms probably had a negative impact.
- In Euroland the focus is on manufacturing production numbers. These data are likely to attract great attention as the December production numbers, especially out of Germany, were quite dismal being below the September level.
- In Scandinavia the focus of attention also turns to inflation. Headline inflation is expected to be pushed higher both in Norway and Sweden due to higher energy prices.
Global Update
- Risk appetite returned and the euro stabilised this week as the markets greeted the announcement that Greece will implement additional EUR4.8bn austerity measures.
- The ECB signalled that it would proceed very cautiously with its monetary policy exit. According to the ECB the weekly main refinancing operations and the onemonth auctions will continue to be with full allotment at least until 12 October 2010.
- US manufacturing ISM disappointed to the downside. It edged lower to 56.5 from its recent peak of 58.4 indicating some slowdown in the pace of manufacturing growth, but from robust levels.
Focus
- In the first focus article we give a brief overview of the commodity market and we discuss why commodities have been able to defy the latest dollar strengthening.
- In the second focus article we use the US bond market in 2003-04 as a case study to evaluate the potential market impact of a change in Fed rhetoric.
