Economic calendar: Lazy start to a busy week

• US stock exchanges to remain shut today for holiday

• BoJ, BoC and ECB to announce rate decisions this week

• World Economic Forum in Davos to be held this week

As it is usually the case for Mondays, the economic calendar is almost empty. The sole event that could be worth watching today is Christine Lagarde’s speech at 6:30 pm GMT. However, the text will not be released and there is no certainty that she will even touch on the topic of monetary policy. The US stock market will be shut for trading today due to Martin Luther King holiday - US index futures, WTI and precious metal will trade until 6:00 pm GMT while agricultural commodities (CORN, SUGAR, SOYBEAN, WHEAT, COCOA, COFFEE) will not trade at all. Among events of interest this week one can find:

Monetary policy decisions

Bank of Japan (Tuesday), Bank of Canada (Wednesday) and the European Central Bank (Thursday) will announce their first monetary policy decision of a new decade this week. Neither bank is expected to change the level of rates but some guidance may be offered. BoC and ECB are on the watch here as the former maintains the highest interest rate among developed economies and was reluctant to lower it while the latter is expected to conduct a policy review this year.

Economic releases

Top economic releases scheduled for this week are preliminary PMIs for January. Gauges from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States will be released on Friday. APart from that, GBP traders may want to follow a labour market report release (Tuesday) as it may be decisive for whether the Bank of England cuts rates next week or not.

World Economic Forum in Davos

The annual economic meeting in Davos will be held between January 21 and January 24. The event will be attended by numerous head of states, including Angela Merkel and Donald Trump. However, the agenda of the event looks to be dominated by climate-related topics therefore its impact on the market may be limited.