ECB and Bank of Canada delivered rate cuts this week and launched easing cycles. Attention next week will shift to two other major central banks - Fed and Bank of Japan. Both are scheduled to announce decisions next week. Apart from that, traders will also focus on macro data from the US and the UK. Be sure to watch USDJPY, GBPUSD and US100 in the week ahead!
USDJPY
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appInvestors will be offered rate decision from two of the world's most important central banks next week - Fed (Wednesday, 7:00 pm BST) and Bank of Japan (Friday, usually between 3:00 am and 5:00 am BST). Neither of the two is expected to change level of rates, but traders will look for some guidance. Currently, markets see Fed cutting rates in September or November, while BoJ could hike rates as soon as July. Whatever banks decide to tell the markets, elevated USD- and JPY-volatility is expected, so the week may be interesting for USDJPY traders.
GBPUSD
Fed meeting is not the only event scheduled for next week that may move USD. Before rate decision, traders will be offered US CPI inflation print for May (Wednesday, 1:30 pm BST), while flash University of Michigan data for June will be released on Friday, 3:00 pm BST). Investors will also get some data from the UK this week - jobs report for April (Tuesday, 7:00 am BST) and monthly GDP report for April (Wednesday, 7:00 am BST). Having said that, some volatility on GBPUSD should be expected around the middle of the week.
US100
Tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (US100) tends to see some of the biggest reactions to Fed policy meetings among major Wall Street indices. This means that the index may become more volatile on Wednesday when Fed announces rates. However, there is also another noteworthy event to watch - Nvidia's 10-for-1 stock split, with company beginning to trade on post-split basis on Monday. Stock splits have no direct impact on value of owned shares, but they make shares more affordable, so could result in increase demand. However, this is not always the case and stock-split performed by, for example, Tesla in 2022 marked local highs on the chart.
