Economic Calendar - 23 August 2010

Here's the Economic Calendar for the week commencing the 23rd of August 2010. This week there's Q2 GDP results from 3 key developed economies; Germany, UK, and the US. On the US, there's also new home/existing home sales, the house price index, and both ABC and University of Michigan consumer sentiment indexes. Elsewhere, Japan will be releasing 3 key stats; exports, CPI, and employment figures. And of course another key feature of this week is the Jackson Hole Symposium at the end of the week; an exclusive monetary policy festival in the US.

(More commentary follows the table)

Day	Time (GMT)	Code	Event/Release	Forecast	Previous
MON	08:00	EUR	Euro-Zone PMI Services (AUG A)	55.5	55.8
MON	08:00	EUR	Euro-Zone PMI Composite (AUG A)	56.4	56.7
MON	08:00		Euro-Zone PMI Manufacturing (AUG A)	56.4	56.7
MON	12:30	USD	Chicago Fed National Activity Index (JUL)		-0.63
MON	14:00	EUR	Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence (AUG A)	-13	-14
MON	03:00	NZD	RBNZ 2-Year Inflation Expectation (3Q)		2.8%
TUE	06:00	EUR	German GDP s.a. (QoQ) (2Q F)	2.2%
TUE	06:00	EUR	German GDP w.d.a. (YoY) (2Q F)	3.7%	1.6%
TUE	06:00	EUR	German GDP n.s.a. (YoY) (2Q F)	4.1%	1.7%
TUE	06:00	EUR	German Imports (2Q F)		6.1%
TUE	06:00	EUR	German Exports (2Q F)		2.6%
TUE	09:00	EUR	Euro-Zone Industrial New Orders s.a. (MoM)	1.5%	3.2%
TUE	09:00	EUR	Euro-Zone Industrial New Orders (YoY) (JUN)	24.2%	22.9%
TUE	12:30	CAD	Retail Sales (MoM) (JUN)		-0.2%
TUE	14:00	USD	Existing Home Sales (JUL)		5.37M
TUE	14:00	USD	Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index (AUG)	12	16
TUE	14:00	USD	Existing Home Sales (MoM) (JUL)		-5.1%
TUE	21:00	USD	ABC Consumer Confidence (JUL)
TUE	23:50	JPY	Merchandise Trade Imports (YoY) (JUL)	19.8	26.1
TUE	23:50	JPY	Merchandise Trade Exports (YoY) (JUL)	21.8	27.7
WED	12:30	USD	Durable Goods Orders (JUL)	3.0%	-1.0%
WED	12:30	USD	Durables Ex Transportation (JUL)	0.5%	-0.6%
WED	14:00	USD	House Price Index (MoM) (JUN)		0.5%
WED	14:00	USD	New Home Sales (JUL)	330K	330K
WED	14:00	USD	New Home Sales (MoM) (JUL)	0.0%	23.6%
WED	14:00	USD	House Price Purchase Index (QoQ) (2Q)		-1.9%
THU	12:30	USD	Initial Jobless Claims (AUG 21) (AUG 21)	485K	500K
THU	23:30	JPY	National Consumer Price Index (YoY) (JUL)	-0.9%	-0.7%
THU	23:30	JPY	Jobless Rate (JUL)	5.3%	5.3%
THU	23:30	JPY	Tokyo Consumer Price Index (YoY) (AUG)	-1.1%	-1.2%
THU	00:00	EUR	German Consumer Price Index (YoY) (AUG P)	1.1%	1.2%
THU			Jackson Hole Symposium (Monetary Policy)
FRI	08:30	GBP	Gross Domestic Product (QoQ) (2Q P)	1.1%	1.1%
FRI	08:30	GBP	Gross Domestic Product (YoY) (2Q P)	1.6%	1.6%
FRI	12:30	USD	Gross Domestic Product (Annualized) (2Q S)	1.4%	2.4%
FRI	12:30	USD	Personal Consumption (2Q S)	1.7%	1.6%
FRI	12:30	USD	Gross Domestic Product Price Index (2Q S)	1.8%	1.8%
FRI	12:30	USD	Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (QoQ)	1.1%	1.1%
FRI	13:55	USD	U. of Michigan Confidence (AUG F)	70.0	69.6
FRI			Jackson Hole Symposium (Monetary Policy)

So the main data releases dues out this week are some more Q2 GDP results from some pretty key developed economies. Up first is Germany, which is expected to show year on year growth of 3.7%, compared to 1.6%; as one of the EU's strongest economies recovers well due to its relatively stronger fiscal position and machine exports to China. The next up is the UK, which is expected to show similar results to that of Q1 this year as the British economy muddles along. Then there's the US; which is expected to show 1.4% compared to 2.4% last time; as the growth decelerates into the double dip or muddle ages of the recovery.

Another key set of data out this week is the stats due from Japan. First up is Japan's international trade stats with merchandise trade imports and exports for July; both are expected to show slightly lower growth on an annual basis; these stats will be critical to watch as the Japanese economy has shown itself to be particularly sensitive to international trade. The next set of data from Japan is the CPI data, which is forecast to show the deflation rate (usually we call it the inflation rate when we talk CPI, but Japan has been so mired in deflation...). The jobless rate is also due out and expected to come in around 5.3%

As for the other bits of data out this week the main other ones of interest are (in no particular order); starting in the EU, there's EU consumer confidence, expected to remain pretty sick, EU PMI; sideways like a crab, and industrial new orders; growing but slightly less than May. In the US; existing home sales, ABC consumer confidence, durable goods orders - expected to pick up, new home sales - flat to to sideways at best, and UoM consumer sentiment on Friday - with maybe a slight increase. The RBNZ in New Zealand will also issue it's 2-year inflation expectation figures - important to monitor in the context of monetary policy, interest rates, and the NZD.

And on the topic of monetary policy, the Jackson Hole Symposium kicks off on Thursday in the US, with a star-studded line-up of central bankers from all over the world; where a couple of days of intensive debate and discussion will take place on the state of the global economy and the course of monetary policy. So keep monitoring the media around those days for what might emerge, in case anything of interest arises. The talk will probably focus on exit strategies, and how to avoid double-dips, lost decades, deflations, depressions, despair, destitution, etc.

So as always, have a great week, watch out for surprises, and stay tuned for updates...

Sources
DailyFX www.dailyfx.com/calendar
Forex Pros www.forexpros.com/economic-calendar/
Forex Factory www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php
Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com
+various statistics websites and central bank websites for verification

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