Canada will take a bit of a break from scheduled economic announcements this week. Still, there will be a couple that markets will closely monitor. Meanwhile, there will be plenty of critical announcements out of the US that’ll shape expectations for the US Federal Reserve Board’s next interest rate decision. Here’s what to watch for this week.

• The Bank of Canada’s (BoC) Summary of Deliberations will be released on Wednesday. At its January meeting, the BoC held its policy interest rate steady at 2.25%, believing it is in a good position to keep inflation contained and support the Canadian economy.
• Canadian building permits for December will also be announced on Wednesday. Building permits fell by 13.1% in November, which largely offset October’s increase. Increasing the housing supply has been an area of focus for the Canadian government.
• South of the border, US retail sales, labour market data, existing home sales and inflation will be released this week.
• Looking elsewhere, China’s inflation rate will be announced on Tuesday, Japan’s producer prices on Wednesday and the UK and Europe’s gross domestic product on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
• Notable earnings announcements in Canada include those from Cineplex, Shopify, West Fraser Timber, Birchcliff Energy, TELUS, Air Canada, Enbridge and Hydro One. Key earnings announcements in the US include those from CVS Health, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor and McDonald’s.

Canada’s scheduled economic announcements will be quiet this week but will pick up next week as we head towards another interest rate decision by the BoC. The BoC’s Summary of Deliberations will give some insight into what BoC policymakers were thinking about the Canadian economy and interest rates at their January meeting. The US is scheduled to release some key economic data, which will impact financial markets and monetary policy decisions.

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