Economic calendar | May 15 – 19

Monday, May 15 

The beginning of the trading week was atypical, as a number of significant macroeconomic data were published on Monday. And as a rule, on this day the economic calendar is absolutely empty. 

It all started with data on producer prices in Japan: their growth rate slowed from 7.2% to 5.8%. Such a significant slowdown in inflationary processes had a negative impact on the yen.

Then the single European currency came under pressure. The reason for the decline was industrial production in the eurozone: the indicator fell by 4.1% in March, which was the sharpest decline since July last year. On a monthly basis, the reduction was 1.4% instead of the expected +0.9% and +2.0% in February.

Tuesday, May 16

Tuesday started with a block of data from China. Retail sales in April increased by 18.4% against the expected 21.0% and the previous result of 10.6%, and industrial production was 5.6% YoY against the forecast of 10.9% and 3.9% a month earlier.

Then the UK shared its statistics: the unemployment rate in January-March unexpectedly rose to 3.9%, while analysts predicted that the indicator would remain at the same level of 3.8%. 

The second estimate of eurozone GDP for the first quarter confirmed the first estimate, so the market did not pay much attention to this publication. 

But the data on inflation in Canada aroused some interest: the indicator rose to 4.4% in April, which exceeded analysts' forecasts (4.1%) and the March indicator (4.3%). This was the first increase in the consumer price index since June last year, when it peaked at 8.1%.

Another important publication on Tuesday was data on retail sales and industrial production in the United States. The first indicator increased in April by 0.4%, worse than forecast. Industrial production in the United States unexpectedly increased by 0.5%. 

Wednesday, May 17

The only thing you can pay attention to on Wednesday is the inflation data in the eurozone. However, we are talking about the final data, which, most likely, will only confirm the preliminary assessment already taken into account by the market.

In the evening, a weekly report from the US Department of Energy on crude oil reserves in the country will be published. 

Thursday, May 18

Thursday, like Wednesday, will be a fairly calm day, despite a number of published macroeconomic data. In particular, the unemployment rate in Australia is likely to remain unchanged, as is the number of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States. So investors will have nothing to focus on. 

Friday, May 19

At the end of the week, data on inflation in Japan will be published, which could well revive the market. However, it is expected that inflation will remain unchanged and will not have any impact on the yen exchange rate and market dynamics. 

But the Canadian dollar will have the opportunity to end the week on a positive note due to the acceleration of retail sales growth from 4.3% to 4.5%.