Market Insights Podcast – A busy week with Tokyo CPI, China 2 Sessions, Fed Chair Powell testimony and US NFP

OANDA Senior Market Analyst Kelvin Wong joins Jonny Hart to discuss this week’s key economic data and event. A busy week ahead across the globe, over in Asia, the key focus will be on Tokyo’s core-core inflation rate (excluding food & energy) where the consensus is expecting an uptick from January’s softer print of 2.2% y/y. The second day of China’s annual parliamentary “2 sessions” on Tuesday, 5 March will be the main focus for market participants as Premier Li Qiang is set to announce China’s 2024 GDP growth target (consensus is expecting around 5%, similar to last year’s target), the expectations of any bazooka stimulus policies have been toned down due to President Xi’s heavily emphasis of “high-quality economic development” guidance in the past two years.

Over in the western hemisphere, Fed Chair Powell will deliver his congressional testimony on Wednesday and Thursday that focuses on the current state of the US economy and the effectiveness of US monetary policy, unlikely for Powell to steer away significantly from a recent Fed Speak that centered on the “not in the hurry mode” to cut interest rates while keeping the Fed dovish pivot alive in 2024. Lastly, we will have the all-important US jobs data on Friday, non-farm payrolls for February; the consensus is expecting a low print of 200K jobs added, below 353K in January, a rather low estimate that may be beaten easily to the upside.