Adding to the insights shared last week, the US has also published the economy’s GDP growth rate on Thursday, growing at 3.4%. This suggests that the GDP of the US economy has experienced an average growth rate of 3.15% over the course of 2023. In February, the PCE Index reflected a 0.3% MoM (Month-on-Month) change and a 2.5% YoY (Year-on-Year) change, while the core PCE remained stable at 0.3% MoM and 2.8% YoY. Additionally, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis revised January's PCE growth from 0.4% to 0.5%.

Looking ahead to this week, we have upcoming data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) scheduled for April 2nd (Tuesday), with analysts forecasting a count of 8.84 million. On April 5th (Friday), Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) and unemployment data will be released, with expectations of 200K new jobs and an unchanged unemployment rate of 3.9%. Furthermore, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is slated to provide insights into the Fed’s perspective on the US economy on April 3rd (Wednesday).

Shifting focus to the Indian markets, the markets have stabilized following the panic stemming from SEBI’s intervention in mid and small caps. Looking ahead to April 5th (Friday), we have RBI to decide on interest rate and the Cash Reserve ratio. Analysts foresee the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain at 6.5% and 4.5%, respectively. Additionally, we await the fortnightly loans and deposits reports from Indian Banks on the same day.

Date : 31st Mar '24; Source - Trading Economics, Forex factory

LR