Top Economic Events To Watch | February 5 – 9 – 2024

The S&P 500 extended its winning streak for the fourth consecutive week, achieving a new all-time high and inching close to the historic 5,000 level. Notable performances from Meta Platforms ($FB) and Amazon ($AMZN) overshadowed weakness in Apple ($AAPL).

With a relatively light economic calendar this week, investors can focus on digesting previous reports and upcoming earnings releases. Additionally, speeches from Federal Reserve members will be closely watched for insights into the central bank's monetary policy outlook.

Now, let's delve into five key economic events that could impact your portfolio in the coming week.

🇪🇺 Retail Sales m/m on Tuesday, February 6, at midnight GMT+2

European retail sales for January 2024 could impact the EUR/USD currency pair and the German composite index, DAX30, which includes stocks of EU companies. These data points should be closely monitored, as analysts anticipate a value of 0.3%, surpassing the previous figure. Strengthening retail markets may contribute to the rise of the euro, especially as the EUR/USD pair continues to decline below 1.0750 due to overall strength in the US Dollar.

🛢 EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change on Wednesday, February 7, at 17:30 GMT+2

The upcoming release pertains to the oil market and has the potential to impact Brent and Crude Oil WTI prices. These data are particularly crucial given that the price of Brent oil dropped to $77 per barrel earlier in the week. A likely decrease in oil inventories could contribute to an uptick in oil prices. It's worth noting that last week's indicator stood at 1.234 million barrels. However, this time it may be lower, potentially triggering a temporary negative oil inventory.

🇺🇸 Fed Governor Bowman's Speech on Wednesday, February 7, at 21:00 GMT+2

On the same day, Wednesday, attention should be directed towards the speech by Michelle W. Bowman, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Market participants anticipate that she might provide insights into the subsequent monetary policy and the Federal Reserve's intentions to either lower or maintain the key interest rate at the upcoming meeting in March 2024. Currently set at 5.50%, many expect signals indicating a potential decrease. The high-interest rate is driving the strength of the dollar, which reached local highs on Monday, February 5th.

🇺🇸 Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday, February 8, at 15:30 GMT+2

As of Monday, February 5th, the dollar index exceeded 104.4. New labor market data could impact the US national currency, either weakening or strengthening it. It is anticipated that in the updated release, Initial Jobless Claims will be 214K, compared to the previous figure of 224K. Besides the dollar, other indices like SPX500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones may also be influenced by these developments.

🇨🇦 Employment Change on Friday, February 9, at 15:30 GMT+2

We conclude the economically active week with a release from Canada, where Employment Change data will be published. This indicator reflects the monthly variation in employment levels across key sectors of the country's economy. High values often support the rise of the Canadian dollar against the USD/CAD pair, while low values have the opposite effect. According to forecasts, the new data is expected to be slightly higher than the previous, at 34.7K. Don't miss it!

That's it for this week! 👋