Following last week’s FOMC decision regarding interest rates in the US, this week is Europe’s turn. On Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to keep the level of interest rates at 4.00% as well as the Bank of England at 5.75%. Such decision will be a natural course of action after the strengthening of both the Euro and the British Pound against the American dollar. Also, the Royal Bank of Australia is expected to increase interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.75% on Tuesday.

Much attention will be of course paid to news flowing from the US. On Wednesday, the Nonfarm Productivity (Expected: 3.0%) and Labor Unit Costs (Expected: 1.1%) reports will be published. Also on Wednesday, the weekly crude oil inventories in the US can affect oil prices. Decreasing oil inventories was one of the reasons the lifted oil prices over 90 USD per barrel. The end of the week will bring us the US Trade Balance (Expected: -59B) and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.

No macroeconomic reports will be published in Poland. Investors will focus on news from abroad. In the last couple of months the WIG20 is positively correlated with American indices. This week should be the same and the performance of Polish equities will resemble the performance of American stocks.

Adam Narczewski