After a rather busy week which saw new economic reports for the month of January, the markets will be slowing down this coming week with most of the data confined to second-tier from the US, UK, and Europe. Standing out from this will be the central bank decisions from the RBA and the RBNZ, both of which are expected to keep interest rates steady. A busy week for Mexico will see the central bank interest rate decision which comes after the inflation data on Thursday. In Europe, the focus will be on the Nordics where Norway will be releasing the inflation figures.

RBA policy decision: No changes expected

The Reserve Bank of Australia will be holding its monetary policy meeting this week, the first for this year. The Australian bond markets continued to slide most of the last week. Yields on the 10-year note which runs inversely to bond prices rose by over one basis point to 2.77%, and bond traders are likely to hold ahead of the RBA’s meeting on Tuesday.

The central bank is expected to keep the benchmark lending rates steady at 1.50% amid an uncertain outlook. In December, the meeting minutes showed that members were concerned on the need to balance the economic and financial risks while maintaining stability.

The economy continues to remain in transition with the unemployment rate staying flat for nearly nine months now and the most recent fourth quarter full-time employment alleviates the concern. However, in the near term, the central bank is expected to stand pat on policy.

RBNZ expected to keep rates steady at 1.75%

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will be meeting this week on February 9th, for its first monetary policy review this year. The central bank is expected to hold the OCR unchanged at 1.75%. The central bank’s meeting comes on the back of what could be the start of a recovery in inflation as New Zealand’s inflation rate was seen returning to the central bank’s target band for the first time in nearly two years.