The key events of the third week of March included meetings of the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of England. Market participants also kept a close watch on retail sales reports from the US and Canada.
United States:
● At 12:30 p.m. GMT, the US retail sales report for February was released. The Core Retail Sales Index rose by 0.3%, while Total Retail Sales increased by 0.2%.
Germany:
● At 10:00 a.m. GMT, the German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index for March was published, climbing to 51.6 from 26.0 in the previous month.
Canada:
● At 2:30 a.m. GMT, the Canadian inflation report was released. The Consumer Price Index for February rose by 1.1% month-over-month, compared to 0.1% in January.
Japan:
● At 5:30 a.m. GMT, the Bank of Japan announced its meeting results, keeping the key interest rate at 0.50%. The Monetary Policy Report was also released.
● At 9:30 a.m. GMT, the Bank of Japan held a press conference.
Eurozone:
● At 10:00 a.m. GMT, the Eurozone inflation report for February was published. The consumer price index increased by 0.4% month-over-month but declined year-over-year from 2.5% to 2.3%.
United States:
● At 1:30 p.m. GMT, the US Department of Energy (EIA) published oil reserves data, showing an increase of 1.745 million barrels.
● At 6:00 p.m. GMT, the Federal Reserve announced its meeting results, keeping the key interest rate at 4.50%.
● At 6:30 p.m. GMT, the FOMC held a press conference.
Japan:
● At 12:30 a.m. GMT, the Australian labor market report for February was published. The change in employment was -52.8 thousand, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
Great Britain:
● At 7:00 a.m. GMT, the UK labor market report was released. The average wage rate, including bonuses, for January was 5.8%. The number of unemployment benefit claims in February rose to 44.2 thousand. The unemployment rate remained at 4.4%.
● At 12:00 p.m. GMT, the Bank of England announced its meeting results. The key interest rate remained at 4.50%. The Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes were also published.
● At 12:30 p.m. GMT, Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey delivered a speech.
Switzerland:
● At 8:30 a.m. GMT, the Swiss Central Bank announced its decision to lower the interest rate from 0.50% to 0.25%.
● At 9:00 a.m. GMT, the SNB held a press conference.
United States:
● At 12:30 p.m. GMT, the weekly initial jobless claims report was released, showing 223,000 applications compared to 221,000 the previous week.
● At 2:00 p.m. GMT, the US existing home sales report for February was published, reaching 4.26 million, up from 4.09 million in January.
Canada:
● At 12:30 p.m. GMT, the Canadian retail sales report for January is scheduled for release. The core retail sales index is expected to decline by 0.1% month-over-month, while total retail sales are projected to decrease by 0.4%.
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