This week opened up with small losses seen in the US dollar. Today and tomorrow carry little new information to be presented, so the movement will remain in a small technical range until some news can inspire a direction in the markets. That being said, given last week’s employment data, the markets are primed for risk appetite.

Monday

No major events.

Tuesday

No major events.

Wednesday

10:30

The head of England’s central bank will give his inflation expectations on Wednesday.  The bank has previously stated that they are currently halting their stimulus, so everyone will be listening for any hint of interest rate hikes in the near future.

13:30

Later that day, the trade balance data from the USA and Canada will be released.  Improvement in these numbers is expected and would be the more market impacting then a lower than expected reading. The market is looking for reasons to increase risk.

15:00

Fed Chairman Bernanke will be testifying in front of Congress. Similar to the statement given by the British central bank, watch for hinting of interest rate tightening.

Thursday

13:30

The focus of Thursday will be the USA retail sales data. Look for a reading of at least 0.6% and the markets will run with it.

Friday

14:55

The week concludes with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. If the week has shown to be bullish on risk look for this data to give it a strong finish, otherwise do not expect any significant movement out of this event.

All times are GMT