International
Asia Week Ahead: Interest Rate Decisions; Inflation Print; GDP Growth
Investors will monitor a number of key data releases this week, including rate decisions, inflation data, and GDP figures.The week starts with a slew of economics reports from China, as well as GDP data from Japan and Thailand.Indonesia's central bank will make a decision about its benchmark rate on Wednesday, with China publishing a decision on loan prime rate figures on Thursday.Investors will also closely watch the U.S. Fed's July meeting minutes scheduled to land on Wednesday for hints on a potential rate hike in September.Friday will see flash PMIs for India and Japan, with South Korea releasing producer inflation data.MONDAY, AUG. 17Japan's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the second quarter. The country's industrial production rose 4.9% year over year in June, compared with a 2.1% decline in May.Thailand also released GDP data, with growth expanding 1.9% year over year in the second quarter, slowing from the 2.8% expansion in the preceding quarter.Separately, Singapore's non-seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus shrank to SG$12.6 billion in July from SG$12.9 billion in June. Total merchandise exports and imports jumped by 40.6% and 36.3% year over year, respectively.The country's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 24.2% year over year in July, following a 20.8% expansion in the prior month.Elsewhere, Malaysia's headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.8% year over year in July.China released an array of economic data on Monday.China's industrial production grew 4.5% year over year in July, narrower than the 5.3% expansion in June and missing the consensus forecast of 5% growth tracked by Investing.com.Retail sales of consumer goods climbed 0.6% year over year to 3.902 trillion yuan in July, slower than the 1% expansion in the prior month, while the country's surveyed urban unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in July.Finally, new home prices in China's 70 major cities decreased 3.2% year over year in July.India is scheduled to release its unemployment rate later on Monday.WEDNESDAY, AUG. 19Bank Indonesia is anticipated to keep its benchmark rate steady at 5.75%, according to experts at ING.The central bank is expected to keep its focus on maintaining rupiah stability and controlling inflation while supporting growth, the Wall Street Journal said, citing CIMB analysts.Japan's machinery orders are projected to rise 9.5% in June on a month-over-month basis, according to a Trading Economics forecast, and 7.9% based on consensus.THURSDAY, AUG. 20China is expected to keep its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at a respective 3% and 3.5%, according to ING and the WSJ.Taiwan's export order growth is forecast to accelerate to 67.5% year over year in July, ING further said.Elsewhere, Hong Kong is expected to release inflation numbers, while Japan is set to release trade data.Japan's trade deficit for July is expected to widen to 680 billion yen, according to a Trading Economics consensus, with exports and imports anticipated to grow 19.9% and 26.5%, respectively.FRIDAY, AUG. 21In Japan, July inflation data arrives on Friday. Headline and core CPI are projected to rise to a respective 2% and 1.8% according to a market consensus, ING said.Japan's flash S&P composite PMI for August is projected at 52.8 by Trading Economics, while India's flash HSBC composite PMI is expected to come in at 55.5.Separately, South Korea's producer price index will likely slow to 8.5% year-over-year in July from 8.6% the previous month, based on a Trading Economics forecast.
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