Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s semiannual testimony beginning on Wednesday, and how he spins the outlook for rate cuts, will be the first of two major events in the US. The second will be Friday’s monthly employment report where slowing payroll growth together with cooling wage pressures – both favorable for rate cuts – are expected. Neither the Bank of Canada on Wednesday nor the European Central Bank on Thursday are expected to cut rates.
Tokyo consumer prices will be Tuesday’s highlight amid expectations for a pop higher in the data. Chinese consumer price data will be posted on Saturday, March 9 local time in what is expected to be another very benign report.
Updates from Germany and whether the country is sliding into recession will open on Wednesday with merchandise trade followed on Thursday with manufacturing orders and on Friday with industrial production. Declines are mostly expected for the latter reports.
Australian fourth-quarter GDP on Wednesday is expected to show modest growth, while Canada’s labour force survey on Friday is expected, much like the consensus for Friday’s US report, to retrace unusual gains from January.