Economic calendar: Services PMIs and BoC rate decision

Summary:

• Services PMIs from European economies
• Bank of Canada rate decision
• Many central bankers on the agenda

8:15/8:45/8:50/8:55/9:00 am BST - Services PMIs from Spain/Italy/France (F)/Germany (F)/ EMU (F) for August: Today we will know two services PMIs from countries where no preliminary readings are offered - Spain and Italy. In both cases expectations suggest that we should not anticipate any larger moves as both indices are forecast to have stayed broadly unchanged. On top of that, final readings will be offered from France, Germany and the Eurozone. 

9:30 am BST - Services PMI from the UK for August: After two major disappointments we got from manufacturing and construction, it seems that today’s reading may also surprise to the downside. The Bloomberg median estimate points to 51, subtly lower compared to 51.4 seen in July. 

10:00 am BST - Retail sales from the EMU for July: The consensus points to a 0.6% MoM decline. 

1:30 pm BST - Foreign trade data from the US for July: A trade balance is forecast to have turned less negative to -$53.4 billion from -$55.2 in June.

3:00 pm BST - BoC rate decision: The Canadian central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged at today’s meeting but there are some risks it could point to a rate cut possibility given what other central banks have done as of yet. Moreover, trade frictions between the US and China have intensified since the latest BoC meeting which may also play a role. That said, we see a downside risk for the Loonie in the near-term. 

7:00 pm BST - Fed’s Beige Book

Central bankers’ speeches:

• 9:30 am BST - ECB’s Presidential Nominee Lagarde attends hearing in Brussels

• 12:00 pm BST - ECB’s Lane

• 2:15 pm BST - BoE’s Carney, Haldane, Haskel and Vlieghe

• 2:25 pm BST - Fed’s Williams

• 3:00 pm BST - ECB’s Mersch

• 3:00 pm BST - Fed’s Kaplan

• 5:30 pm BST - Fed’s Bowman, Bullard

• 5:30 pm BST - ECB’s Guindos

• 6:00 pm BST - Fed’s Kashkari

• 8:15 pm BST - Fed’s Evans