Economic news to watch this week

January GDP numbers and budgets released in Canada’s two most populous provinces will lead Canadian economic news this week.

The hottest item will be January GDP, says National Bank’s week ahead report. “Positive contributions are expected from wholesale and retail but these may be offset by rather large drags from manufacturing […] and finance/real estate […]. All told, we’re expecting GDP to have shrunk 0.1% in the month, following a lukewarm +0.1% print the previous month,” the report says.

The provincial governments of Quebec (on Tuesday) and Ontario (on Wednesday) will also table their 2018 budgets.

Read: Breaking down the latest provincial budget releases

In the U.S, look for personal income and personal spending data, which “could have risen in February, buoyed by decent earnings growth,” the report says.

The third estimate of U.S. fourth-quarter GDP may also be revised this coming week, “from 2.5% to 2.6% thanks to a greater-than-anticipated contribution from non-residential investment,” it adds.

Another item to watch is the Case-Shiller 20 City home price index for January. “A strong monthly advance (i.e. 0.5% or more) would lift the index past its pre-recession peak level for the first time,” says National Bank.

Globally, Japan will release retail sales, industrial production, housing starts and its jobless rate, while China will release March’s manufacturing PMI.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.