FX Week Ahead: Final GDP Releases; US, UK And Canada

The week ahead will see a somewhat slower pace of economic data released accentuated by a short trading week. Most of the markets, including the U.S. and Europe, will be closed on Friday on account of the Good Friday holiday.

After a busy last week, which saw the Fed hiking interest rates and monetary policy meetings from the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand the week ahead is slower in comparison.

Final GDP releases form the major theme amid a lack of any other key economic events scheduled over the week. The U.S. and the UK will be reporting on the final revised GDP estimates for the fourth quarter of 2017. No big changes are expected although the U.S. economy is expected to see a revised GDP estimate of 2.7% for the quarter ending 2017. No changes are expected from the UK.

Canada will be releasing the monthly GDP numbers which covers the economic activity for the month of January. Besides the few economic reports coming out this week, the major theme will be the developments from Washington. Following Trump’s previous announcement of levying import tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump followed up last week by slapping China with tariffs of up to $60 billion citing previous attempts by China to steal intellectual property rights from American companies.

However, Trump himself was seen to be taking a calculated move, unsure of what the new measures could unleash. Concerns of a global trade war increased but China responded by imposing tariffs of just $3 billion on imports of some specific goods from the U.S. China called for restraint, asking for a dialogue with Washington.

This is expected to play out in the background over the week ahead and could potentially keep the market risk sentiment in check.

Here’s a quick recap of the key economic events due this week.

U.S. Final Revised GDP, Core PCE

We could expect to see some volatility from the U.S. dollar with the week ahead marked by Fed speeches and includes some economic data that the Fed will be closely monitoring.