Weekly Market Preview
Monday, Sep 4, 2023
Investors will be closely monitoring a series of important economic data releases, this week along with interest rate decisions by major central banks in the G7 economies. The week will start slow, due to the Labor Day holiday in the United States and Canada. Subsequently, attention will shift to the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for the services sector of August, for the biggest economies including the United States. These data figures will play a vital role in shaping market expectations regarding the Federal Reserve’s decision in the September meeting. A continued decline in services sector performance is considered a significant indicator suggesting that the US Central Bank may opt to maintain interest rates at their current levels. This comes considering the decrease in the US hourly wage rates, as revealed in the US jobs report for August. However, the August inflation report will be the ultimate determinant of the Federal Open Market Committee’s direction in the September meeting.
Furthermore, market participants are awaiting the interest rate decision from the Bank of Canada. It is widely anticipated that the bank will keep the current rate unchanged at 5%, particularly due to the decrease in economic growth levels for the second quarter of the year, and rising unemployment levels. The Reserve Bank of Australia is also expected to maintain its interest rates at the existing level of 4.1%. These central bank decisions are closely scrutinized by global financial markets for potential implications on currency values and investor sentiment.