This
will be an important week for the markets as investors received important data.
This article will highlight some of the most important data and news for the
week.
Crude
Oil
Today,
there will be the OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee in
Saudi Arabia. The goal of this meeting will be to discuss the key issues in the
oil industry. Ahead of the meeting, the statements from key countries pointed
to more supply cuts. The members are considering two options. First, the
members could decide to continue the current production limits. This is because
increasing production is technically off the table. A report by the internal
simulations point to a global glut if the countries decide to increase
production. The second option is to let the member states to use the baseline
for supply cuts. This would lead to increase in production. As a result of the
December meeting outcomes, the member states have reduced the inventories by
172 million barrels, which is 30 million more than the expected. Today’s
meeting will make suggestions, which will need to be ratified by the members in
the June meeting.
Iran
Another
issue that will be watched by the market will be the growing tensions between
Iran and the United States. In recent weeks, the two countries have been under
pressure after the US ended waivers on crude exports from Iran. This has led to
significant activity in the region. The US has also deployed some military
ships close to the country. Trump’s security advisors have suggested having a
war with Iran, which the president has rejected. In a tweet yesterday, the
president said that war between Iran and US would lead to the end of Iran.
Fed
Minutes
Traders
will also focus on the Fed minutes, which will be released on Wednesday. The
minutes are for the meeting held three weeks ago. Investors focus on the
minutes because they provide more clarity on what was discussed in the previous
meeting. It is also more detailed than the monetary policy statement that is
released after the Fed meeting. Traders will also receive the minutes from the
Reserve Bank of Australia.
Japan
Earlier
today, Japan released the GDP numbers. The data showed that the country’s
economy expanded by 2.1% in the first quarter. This was better than the
expected slowdown of -0.2%. The capital expenditure in the quarter declined by
-0.3%, which was better than the expected decline of -1.7%. The external demand
increased by 0.4%. On Wednesday, the country will release the trade data and
the machinery order numbers.
Other
Data
Investors
will also watch out for more economic data. On Tuesday, the UK will release its
CPI data while Canada will release its retail sales numbers. The EIA will
release the crude oil inventory numbers. On Thursday, Germany will release its
GDP and PMI data. The ECB will release
the ECB Financial Stability Review while the UK will release the retail sales
data. The US will release the manufacturing PMI data and the new home sales
data. On Friday, New Zealand will release the April jobs data while the US will release its durable goods
numbers.
The post Week Ahead: Key Economic Themes to Watch this Week appeared first on Forex.Info.