Event: China Gross Domestic Product (Q2)

Date: Monday 17 July 2017 at 02:00 GMT

Markets affected: CNY /USD

Trending hashtags: #cny, #gdp

China’s GDP came in 1% better than expectations as the world’s second largest economy continued to outpace forecasts for the last 18 months. China’s economy grew 6.9% for Q2 hitting Beijing’s target of 6.5% to 7% year-on-year growth. Industrial growth for May also surpassed expectations at 7.6% against an expected figure of 6.5%. Retail sales rose in June to 11% on an annualised basis versus the 10.6% forecast and annual urban investment came in at 8.6% for the first half of the year.

Event: EU Consumer Price Index (June)

Date: Monday 17 July 2017 at 09:00 GMT

Markets affected: EUR /USD, EUR/GBP

Trending hashtags: #eur, #cpi

The euro got a boost on Monday as inflation figures for June were confirmed. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit the anticipated 1.3% growth for last month on a year by year basis. Core CPI gave no surprises showing growth of 1.2% on an annualised basis. The markets remained fairly calm on the result as they awaited ECB’s President Mario Draghi’s speech on Thursday.

Event: NZ Consumer Price Index

Date: Monday 17 July 2017 at 22:45 GMT

Markets affected: NZD /USD, AUD/NZD

Trending hashtags: #nzd, #cpi

The kiwi took a bit of a tumble later on Monday evening (Tuesday morning local time) as CPI for the second quarter on the year came in at 1.7% versus the expected 1.9%. It was also down from the previous month’s 2.2%. The figure is still within the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target range for inflation of 1-3%. The NZ dollar fell against its major counterparts – the greenback and the aussie, but restored most of its positions by the end of the day.

Event: UK Consumer Price Index

Date: Tuesday 18 July 2017 at 08:30 GMT

Markets affected: GBP/USD, EUR/GBP

Trending hashtags: #gbp, #cpi

The sterling was pushing to break through the 1.31 mark on Tuesday but came under pressure following the release of the Consumer Price Index in the UK. CPI fell to 2.6% for the month of June, 0.3% less than the previous month and what the markets were forecasting. The main reason the pound fell on the news of weaker inflation is that it reduces the chances that the Bank of England will raise interest rates this year. A lower interest rate means less people are looking to buy the GBP due to getting a lower return on their investment.