Packed End of Week on the Horizon for Forex Markets

The foreign exchange markets were preparing for a busy end to the week on Thursday and Friday.

Today (Thursday) is due to see a brief slowdown in two European economies, Germany and Switzerland. This will occur on the Ascension Day holiday.

The preliminary Spanish consumer price index for May will be out at 7am GMT. This is expected to show a month on month change from 1% to 0%.

There will be a speech from the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking, David Ramsden, at 7.30am GMT.

Then the usual weekly round of jobless claims will be out of the US at 12.30pm GMT. Continuing jobless claims for the dates around May 17^th are expected to show a change from 1,676,000 to 1,662,000. Initial jobless claims for the period around May 24^th will also be out and are expected to show a change from 211,000 to 215,000.

The big data release event of the day will be the preliminary annualised gross domestic product release out of the US, also at 12.30pm GMT, covering the first quarter of the year. This is expected to show a change from 3.2% to 3.1%.

Watchers of the US’ housing market statistics will see a pending home sales data release at 2pm GMT, covering April. This is predicted to show a month on month change from 3.8% to 0.9%.

The Japanese unemployment rate for April will be out at 11.30pm GMT and is forecast to show a change from 2.5% to 2.4%.

Looking ahead to Friday, information on Japanese housing starts in April is due at 5am GMT. Year on year, this is expected to show a change from 10% to 5.8%.

Consumer credit statistics for the month of April will be out of Britain at 8.30am GMT. Mortgage approvals figures will also be due at around that time for the same month. These are predicted to show a change from 62,341 to 63,500.

A preliminary harmonised index of consumer prices for May will be out of Germany at 12pm GMT. Year on year, these are expected to show a change from 2.1% to 1.5%.

Personal income figures for the US in April are due at 12.30pm GMT and are expected to show a month on month change from 0.1% to 0.3%. Personal spending figures for the same country and month are due then as well and are expected to show a change from 0.9% to 0.2%.

Annualised Canadian gross domestic product information is expected at 12.30pm GMT, covering the first quarter of 2019. This is predicted to show a quarter on quarter change from 0.4% to 1.2%.

Several key states in the US will have their economies analysed in the May edition of the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, which is released by ISM-Chicago at 1.45pm GMT. This will cover the states of Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. This region will also be in the spotlight at 2pm GMT when the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which is researched and published by the University of Michigan, will come out.