The inflation data dump begins today, with Australia reporting first. Year-on-year inflation narrowly missed the forecast Down Under, coming in at 3%, though the QoQ reading was in line with the forecast. Other major economies will also report their inflation numbers before the week’s end.
In Europe, Germany published the GfK consumer confidence index for November, which was higher than anticipated at 0.9. France, on the other hand, disappointed with its own consumer confidence report for October.
In the United Kingdom, all financial talk today will likely focus on the autumn budget sheet, with Chancellor Sunak scheduled to release a new spending bill by the government to help ease the UK’s recovery from the pandemic over the next couple of years.
Furthermore, the most interesting report from the United States today is the durable goods orders for September, which were better than expected at -0.4%.
Later today the Bank of Canada will be holding its October monetary policy meeting, where it will decide whether to hike interest rates. No adjustments to the rate are expected.
Nevertheless, the Canadian regulator will most likely announce yet another taper to its asset purchases program. It was one of the first major central banks to start tightening its monetary policy and considering the satisfactory performance of the Canadian economy, will most likely have to continue in the same vein.
In terms of the stock market, today tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) might see continued growth after they reported better-than-anticipated results for the third quarter of this year yesterday.
Due to the fast, confident gains in tech stocks over the past few days, today we could see US stock indices trade slightly lower, as a correction of the rapid expansion previously. Plus, the earnings season continues, with names such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola due to report today.
