Here are some of the important economic data that will be the focus of the market throughout this week.
UK Employment Data (Tuesday 3.00pm): Unemployment benefit claims in the UK are expected to increase in February with the unemployment rate also expected to rise. A gloomy UK labor sector will support the central bank's earlier view to stop monetary policy tightening.
US CPI data (Tuesday 8.30 PM): Being an important indicator for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to continue setting monetary policy, the inflation rate in the United States will be scrutinized. Declining inflation is likely to further reduce expectations for the Fed to move into a tightening phase.
US PPI data (Wednesday 8.30pm): Closely related to inflation data, readings of producer price index data are seen to give an idea of consumer inflation in the future. The drop in PPI data will prompt a forecast drop in the CPI figure after this.
Australian Jobs Data (Thursday 8.30am): After the economy lost 11,000 jobs in the previous month, Australia is forecast to post an increase of almost 50,000 in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is predicted to decrease to 3.6% from 3.7%.
ECB Policy Meeting (Thursday 9.15pm): The European central bank is expected to increase interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.50% after members of the central bank and President Christine Lagarde remained signaling to continue their monetary policy tightening.
US Consumer Confidence Sentiment (Friday 10.00 PM): Closing in on this week's trade, investors will be looking at survey data for consumer confidence in the US to assess spending and provide insight into economic activity.
