Forex Recap & Fundamental Outlook: GDP Reports out of US, UK, Swiss and Canada

By CountingPips.com

Last Week’s Recap & Notable Data Points:

Last week, the US dollar had mixed results against the other major currencies with the euro and Swiss franc gaining against the dollar while the Japanese yen, British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar all fell against the American currency.

Last week’s most interesting data point in the major economic data was perhaps the Japanese GDP report that was released on Monday. The release disappointed the market with a subpar result below market forecasts that were looking for 2.8% rise in fourth-quarter. The actual number turned out to be just a 1.0% increase in the Japanese economy for the quarter. Elsewhere, the data points were mostly close in line with their market expectations.

Here are the major economic results from last week:

  • Japan GDP rose by 1.0% annualized in the fourth quarter compared to a forecast of a 2.8% increase
  • United Kingdom consumer price index rose 1.9% euro year over year in January compared to a 2.0% forecast
  • German ZEW survey registered a score of 55.7 compared to the forecast of 61.5
  • US Consumer price index rose by 1.6% year over year in January meeting the forecasts
  • Canada’s consumer price index beat expectations with a 1.5% year over year increase in January compared to a 1.3% forecast

This Week’s Outlook: GDP Reports out of US, UK, Swiss and Canada – CPI from EU, Japan

This week we have a rather busy economic data release week with the highlights being GDP reports from the US, UK, Switzerland and Canada while there is consumer price index releases from the Eurozone and Japan.

On Monday, we will see the Eurozone consumer price index for January with expectations of a 0.7% increase. On Tuesday the US consumer confidence report by the Conference Board is scheduled and on Wednesday the United Kingdom GDP report for the fourth quarter is to be released.

Thursday is a busy day with the Switzerland GDP report, the Germany employment data, the Germany consumer price index, the US durable goods orders and the Japanese consumer price index.

Finally on Friday, the Canadian GDP report and the latest US GDP report update for the fourth quarter are to be released.

Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s major economic highlights:

Monday, February 24
Eurozone — consumer price index

Tuesday, February 25
United States — consumer confidence

Wednesday, February 26
United Kingdom — GDP report

Thursday, February 27
Switzerland — GDP report
Eurozone — Germany unemployment rate
Eurozone — Germany consumer price index
United States — durable goods orders
Japan — consumer price index

Friday, February 28
Eurozone — consumer price index
Canada — GDP report
United States — GDP report

Please see our full calendar for a complete listing of economic events.