Events to Look Out for Next Week

As Jackson Hole Symposium winds down, lingering geopolitical trade tensions and political jitters in Hong Kong, Italy and the UK remain on the table to add further to an uncertain backdrop and to weigh on sentiment. From the data perspective, Thursday and Friday are the most data-heavy days with US GDP and Durable Goods, and Inflation releases from Europe and Tokyo.

Monday – 26 August 2019

• German IFO (EUR, GMT 08:00) – German IFO business confidence is expected to spike higher at 97.1 after it fell back to 95.7 in the July reading from 97.4 and is now at levels last seen in 2013. The Ifo services reading already fell back 10 points this year to 17.7 in July from 27.8 in December last year. Trade and construction sectors are clearly less optimistic than at the end of 2018.

• Durable Goods (USD, GMT 12:30) – Durable goods orders are expected to rise 0.2% in July, after a 1.9% figure in June. Transportation orders should rise 0.5%. Boeing orders rose to 31 from 9 in June, with continued weakness due to the hit from problems with the Boeing 737 Max that has prompted buyers to delay new purchase commitments. Vehicle assemblies rose to an 11.6 mln pace from 11.5 mln in June. Durable shipments are expected to be flat, and inventories should rise 0.4%. The I/S ratio is expected to tick up to 1.66 from 1.65 in June.

Tuesday – 27 August 2019

• Gross Domestic Product (EUR, GMT 06:00) – German Preliminary Q2 GDP growth is expected to remain unchanged,  after it contracted -0.1% q/q on August 14. Annual rates looked better than expected and the economy still expanded 0.4% y/y on a working day adjusted basis, but trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty clearly left their mark.

• CB Consumer Confidence (USD, GMT 14:00) – The Consumer confidence is expected to ease to 133.0 in August from an 8-month high of 135.7 in July. We see a 169.2 current conditions reading, versus 170.9 in July. The expectations index should fall to 1008.8 in June from 112.2, versus an 18-year high of 115.1 in October. Overall, confidence measures remain historically high.

Thursday – 29 August 2019

• Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (EUR, GMT 12:00) – The German HICP inflation is jump to 1.3% y/y for August after it was revised down to 1.1% y/y in July.

• US Gross Domestic Product (USD, GMT 12:30) – The preliminary  Q2 GDP growth is expected to trim to 1.9% from 2.1%, with a $6 bln hike in consumption that accompanies a $2 bln boost for nonresidential investment. A downward revisions is expected of -$5 bln for inventories, -$4 bln for exports, -$3 bln for imports, -$8 bln revision for public construction, -$2 bln residential investment, and -$1 bln for equipment spending.

• Tokyo CPI and Production Data (JPY, GMT 23:30) – The country’s main leading indicator of inflation is expected to have slip at 0.7% y/y core in August, and at 0.8% y/y ex Fresh Food. Industrial Production should post a 0.3% grow m/m in July, compared to -3.3% in June.

Friday – 30 August 2019

• Consumer Price Index (EUR, GMT 09:00) – The Euro Area flash CPI for August is expected to rise slightly, at 1.1% y/y from 1.0% y/y last month. Eurozone Unemployment rate is anticipated steady at 7.5%.

• Gross Domestic Product (CAD, GMT 12:30) – Canada’s economy remained sluggish in Q1, with real GDP rising just 0.4% (q/q, saar) after a 0.3% gain in Q4 (revised from 0.4%). The Q1 growth rate was shy of expectations, but it was far from a shocking result as tepid activity was projected as the economy continued to recover from the oil price shock last year.  Meanwhile the Q2 release is expected to be released higher at 0.7% q/q from 0.4% gain in Q1 , due to the strong showing from net exports.The monthly trade report revealed a 14.7% gain in export volumes (q/q, saar) following the 4.1% drop reported in the Q1 GDP report.