Outlook for the Major Events of the Euro-Zone Economy
December 14th, 2009 Posted in Euro-Zone
The European currency started this week in a weak position, after edging below $1.46 on Friday. Debt problems in Greece, credit downgrade in Spain and better than expected U.S figures are all weighting down on the EUR. Here is an outlook for the major events that await the EUR, and will influence the EUR/USD trend for today.
10:00 GMT EUR Industrial Production
- It’s a leading indicator of economic health – production reacts quickly to ups and downs in the business cycle and is correlated with consumer conditions such as employment levels and earnings.
- The all-European industrial production is published after the Germany and France publish their figures. But since we’ve witnessed the big differences between the member states, and previous surprises, this figure’s release is important.
- After two months of growth, last month’s 0.3% rise is expected to be followed by a dip of 0.6%
10:00 GMT EUR Employment Change
- Change in the number of employed people. European jobs are expected to decline for the fifth quarter in a row, after a drop of 0.5% in 2nd quarter.
- Europe isn’t only Germany and France, and other countries of the union are weighing on the currency. Now that the US recovery is seen in more and more indicators, Europe’s growth doesn’t have an advantage anymore. The sentiment on the EUR/USD pair remains bearish
13:30 GMT CAD Capacity Utilization Rate
- Percentage of available resources being utilized by manufacturers, builders, mines, oil extractors, and utilities.
- Canada suffered from drops in the utilization rate of resources since fourth quarter of 2007. It reached a bottom of 67.4% in the last quarter and is finally expected to rise to 67.7% this time. A stronger rise will help the loonie.
- The Canadian dollar managed to remain stable in another week of greenback strength. The upcoming week contains important inflation figures that will shape the loonie’s direction
