Fed minutes the big one to watch on the economic calendar next week

And on days when we don’t get any big data, it can be a little slow and uninspiring. So far today, at least we’re seeing the dollar make a decent push higher. That is helped by Treasury yields keeping a bounce at a key technical juncture as noted here. But traders are going to continue to be driven by key economic releases in the months ahead. So, let’s see what is on the agenda for next week.

• Canada April CPI report (21/05)**
• RBNZ May monetary policy decision (22/05)**
• UK April CPI report (22/05)**
• US April existing home sales (22/05)
• FOMC May meeting minutes (22/05)***
• France, Germany, Eurozone May preliminary PMIs (23/05)**
• UK May preliminary PMIs (23/05)**
• US May preliminary PMIs (23/05)**
• US weekly initial jobless claims (23/05)**
• US April new homes sales (23/05)
• UK April retail sales data (24/05)
• Canada March retail sales data (24/05)
• US April durable goods orders (24/05)

The key one to watch will be the Fed minutes, to get a better check in on their thoughts about future policy steps. That especially after having cited a lack of progress on inflation in the meeting statement here. Since then, we have seen some better developments in the data. So, it will be interesting to try and pick up some clues from there.

Meanwhile, PMI data will be in focus to gauge any further softening in the US economy. In Europe and the UK, it will be a check to see if the better performance in Q1 will continue into Q2.

That aside, do keep an eye out on the UK inflation data as well. It will be one to help settle the score on the debate about a rate cut before the summer.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.