Midweek is here: what’s happening in the markets?

Now that the foreign exchange trading week is fully underway, it’s a good time to assess what’s coming up in the second half of the week.

Wednesday afternoon, there will be a heavy focus on the US.

Consumer price index information for October, which tracks the prices that Americans are faced with when they enter shops, will be out at 1:30pm GMT.

It is expected by analysts that this will show a change from 0% to 0.3% on a month on month basis.

Excluding food and energy, however, the figure is likely to be different.

This is set to show a smaller rise, this time from 0.1% to 0.2% – again on a month on month basis.

The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, will appear before the US Congress at 4pm GMT.

Elsewhere around the world, a speech from Michele Bullock – who serves as the assistant governor for the financial system at the Reserve Bank of Australia – will occur at 10:50pm GMT.

There will be a gross domestic product release for Q3 of 2019 out of Japan too.

This is due at 11:50pm GMT and will be on a preliminary basis.

It is expected to show a quarter on quarter change from 0.3% to 0.2%.

On Thursday of this week, Australian consumer inflation expectations will be at the forefront of many traders’ minds early on in the GMT time zone.

This is expected to come out at midnight GMT and will cover the month of November.

This is expected to show a change from 3.6% to 3.2%.

In the UK, the Rightmove house price index will come out at 12:01am GMT for November.

Month on month, this was last recorded at 0.6%.

Australian unemployment rate data for October will be out at 12:30am GMT.

This is due to show a change from 5.2% to 5.3% – a rise which, if it transpires, is unlikely to be perceived as an excessive threat to the health of the Australian economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics in China is set to hold a press conference at 2am GMT.

This will coincide with an industrial production figures release for October.

This is expected to show a year on year change from 5.8% to 5.4%.

Preliminary German gross domestic product data for Q3 of the year will be out at 7am GMT.

This is expected to show a change from 0% to 0.9% on a year on year basis.

In Britain, retail sales data (excluding fuel) will be out at 9:30am GMT.

This is predicted to show a year on year change from 3% to 3.4% when it is released and will cover the month of October.

The other main event that morning will be a preliminary gross domestic product release from the European Union, which is due out at 10am GMT.

This is forecast to show no quarter on quarter change from 0.2%, where it was previously recorded.

A speech from Philip Lane, who sits on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, is set to occur at 11am GMT.