By CountingPips.com
The US dollar lost ground against most of the major currencies last week as the FOMC minutes and some dovish comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on the latest Fed tapering talk and presumed inevitability of the ending of the US Federal Reserve’s QE program helped to cool off the USD bull run. The FOMC minutes showed that some 
members are looking to see better jobs numbers out of the US before agreeing to cut the stimulus. This rhetoric dashed market expectations for continued US dollar strength and perhaps, more importantly, coincided with the market leaning heavily in favor of the US dollar which experienced a sharp reversal. The dollar selloff ultimately benefitted the US stock markets as they raced to new highs.
This week revolves around more comments from Fed Chairman Bernanke on Wednesday and Thursday as he speaks before both houses of US Congress. There are also other important events like the Chinese GDP report on Monday, the US consumer price index on Tuesday, Canadian interest rate decision on Wednesday and the eurozone G-20 finance ministers meeting on Friday. See more economic event highlights below.
Highlights of Fundamental Economic Events Next Week
Monday, July 15
China — GDP report
China — retail sales
China — industry production
Switzerland — producer and import prices
United States — advanced retail sales
Canada — existing home sales
New Zealand — consumer price index
Tuesday, July 16
Australia — RBA minutes
United Kingdom — consumer price index
euro zone — consumer price index
euro zone — Germany zew survey
United States — consumer price index
United States — treasury net TIC flows
Japan — BOJ meeting minutes
Wednesday, July 17
Australia — Westpac leading index
United Kingdom — bank of England minutes
United Kingdom — jobless claims
Canada — interest rate decision
United States — housing starts/building permits
United States — Fed Bernanke speech to US House
United States — Fed reserve beige book
Thursday, July 18
United Kingdom — retail sales
United States — Fed Bernanke speech to the Senate
Switzerland — trade balance
United States — weekly jobless claims
United States — leading indicators
United States — Philadelphia Federal Reserve report
Friday, July 19
Euro zone — G-20 finance meeting
Canada — consumer price index
Canada — BOC inflation core
Written by Zac Storella, CountingPips Forex Blog & Currency Pair Research
