China, US and BOE’s Carney the main focus

October 13, 2016

As what may be seen as relatively quiet day, there are a few announcements that stand out.

China is today releasing its trade balance figures for the month. We look to China’s trade figures to give us a good indication of the strength of its economy, the world’s second largest. Due to China’s economic growth expectations, the rest of the world relies on its ‘appetite’ for trade to consolidate their own economies, especially during times of global uncertainty.

The US is releasing a couple of important figures later today/early tomorrow morning. The two headline figures are the weekly unemployment claims and also the weekly crude oil inventories. The unemployment claims are important as they give an indication of the strength of the labour force in the world’s largest economy. This strength gives confidence to the rest of the world that the US economy is in a healthy state. The crude oil inventories have the ability to strongly affect global oil prices.

The Bank of England’s (BOE) Governor Mark Carney is also delivering a speech to the 2016 Future Forum in England late today/early tomorrow morning. While this is not an interest rate meeting, speeches made by central bank officials are always viewed with great interest as they can give an insight into the thought processes of monetary policy-making officials.

Elsewhere around the world, Germany is releasing its final CPI figures. As Europe’s largest economy, their economic strength gives confidence to not only other European nations, but also nations around the world, that Europe’s ‘standard bearer’ is in relative financial health. The CPI figures reflect the general spending of German consumers. Increased spending means consumers feel more secure about spending disposable income.