Key Fundamental Forex Events for the Week of February 17th through February 21st
The following table lists the key economic data and other events that came out during the week of February 17th through February 21st, with release times displayed for the GMT time zone.
The list also indicates how much each release deviated from the market consensus forecast upon release, as well as what the affected major currency pair or pairs did after each event or set of events.
Sunday, February 16th
- 9:00am GBP BOE Governor Carney said that, "The path of monetary policy, the path of interest rates is going to be calibrated very carefully to ensure that only when we see sustainable growth in jobs, in incomes and in spending, will we make adjustments.We can responsibly take our time and only adjust interest rates once more slack has been cut." The currency fell.
- 9:45pm NZD Retail Sales 1.2% versus 1.7% expected. The currency fell slightly.
Monday, February 17th
- All Day USD Bank Holiday
Tuesday, February 18th
- 12:30am AUD Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes stated that, "Members noted that current market pricing in Australia suggested little chance of a change in monetary policy at present. While advertised interest rates on home and business loans were generally unchanged, average interest rates on loans outstanding had continued to fall. The overall funding composition of Australian banks was little changed, with deposits remaining the dominant source of funding, but there had been a shift from term to at-call deposits in response to changes in relative interest rates." The currency fell.
- 3:28am JPY Monetary Policy Statement noted that,"The Policy Board also decided, by a unanimous vote, to double the scale of (i) the Fund-Provisioning Measure to Stimulate Bank Lending (hereafter "Stimulating Bank Lending Facility") and (ii) the Fund-Provisioning Measure to Support Strengthening the Foundations for Economic Growth (hereafter "Growth-Supporting Funding Facility"), and to extend the application period for these facilities by one year. Before today's decision, these were due to expire shortly." The currency fell.
- 7:21am JPY BOJ Press Conference:BOJ Governor Kuroda said that, "If risks materialize, we will not hesitate adjusting policy, but for now Japan's economy is on track and moving in line with our forecasts". The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP CPI 1.9% versus 2.0% expected. The currency fell.
- 10:00am EUR German ZEW Economic Sentiment 55.7 versus 61.3 expected. The currency rose.
Wednesday, February 19th
- 9:30am GBP Claimant Count Change -27.6K versus -18.3K expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP MPC Asset Purchase Facility Voteunchanged at 375B, vote 0-0-9, as expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30amGBP MPC Official Bank Rate Voteunchanged at 0.50%, vote 0-0-9, as expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP Unemployment Rate 7.2% versus 7.1% expected. The currency fell.
- 1:30pm USD Building Permits 0.94M versus 0.98M expected. The currency rose.
- 1:30pm USD PPI 0.2% versus 0.6% expected. The currency rose.
- 7:00pm USD FOMC Meeting Minutes noted that, "Taking into account the extent of federal fiscal retrenchment since the inception of its current asset purchase program, the Committee continues to see the improvement in economic activity and labor market conditions over that period as consistent with growing underlying strength in the broader economy." The currency rose.
Thursday, February 20th
- 1:45am CNY HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI 48.3versus 49.4 expected.
- 8:00am EUR French Flash Manufacturing PMI 48.5 versus 49.6 expected. The currency fell.
- 8:30am EUR German Flash Manufacturing PMI 54.7 versus 56.4 expected. The currency rose.
- 1:30pm USD Core CPI 0.1% versus 0.1% expected. The currency rose.
- 1:30pm USD Weekly Initial Jobless Claims 336K versus 335K expected. The currency rose.
- 3:00pm USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index -6.3 versus 9.2 expected. The currency rose.
- Tentative USD Fed ChairpersonYellen’s testimony was put off until February 27th. The currency rose.
Friday, February 21st
- All Day G20 Meetings: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said that, "Taking into account the extent of federal fiscal retrenchment since the inception of its current asset purchase program, the Committee continues to see the improvement in economic activity and labor market conditions over that period as consistent with growing underlying strength in the broader economy."
- 9:30am GBP Retail Sales -1.5% versus -0.9% expected. The currency rose.
- 1:30pm CAD Core CPI 0.2% versus 0.1%expected. The currency fell.
- 1:30pm CAD Core Retail Sales -1.4% versus 0.2% expected. The currency fell.
- 3:00pm USD Existing Home Sales 4.62M versus 4.73M expected. The currency rose.
Saturday, February 22nd
- All Day G20 Meetings have not yet occurred.
Technical Recap for the Majors This Week
EUR/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly higher from a 1.3700 open to a 1.3709close.
USD/JPY:
Forecast: Mildly Lower
Actual: Mildly higherfrom a101.72open to a102.68close.
GBP/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly lower from a 1.6758open to a 1.6677close.
AUD/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly lower from a 0.9049open to a 0.8958 close.
USD/CAD:
Forecast: Mildly lower
Actual: Higher from a 1.0972open to a 1.1147close.
NZD/USD:
Forecast: Higher
Actual: Mildly lowerfrom a 0.8365open to a 0.8269 close.
Risk Statement: Trading Foreign Exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The possibility exists that you could lose more than your initial deposit. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you.