World Economic Outlook Weekly Issues Check: FOMC, BOJ Meetings, And Micron And Chinese Companies Earnings

Central Bank: There are monetary policy meetings between Japan and Australia on the 19th (Tuesday), the U.S. on the 20th (Wednesday), and the U.K. central bank on the 21st (Thursday). Market participants predict that the dot plot, or interest rate outlook, will change at the FOMC, but concerns that it could be lowered from three cuts to two are reflected in recent financial markets. However, some investment companies predict that they will maintain the number of rate cuts three times, considering the slowdown in real indicators and the fact that it has not been long since the March meeting. Therefore, increased volatility due to the FOMC is inevitable.
At the same time, attention is being paid to the BOJ meeting in Japan, because there is a possibility of resolving negative interest rates (interest rate hikes) and government bond interest rates. Market participants predict that interest rates will be raised with a 57% probability, in which case the yen will strengthen and the interest rate on Japanese government bonds will rise. This is because market participants’ attention is focused on the fact that it could lead to a rise in interest rates on US government bonds (decrease in bond prices) and a weakening dollar.

Earnings: Micron (MU) announced its earnings results after the market closes on the 20th (Wednesday). Recently, many investment companies raised their investment opinions and target stock prices, saying that recovery of gross margins will be strengthened due to the optimized portfolio of products such as DRAM and HBM. As the earnings are announced in the meantime, market participants are predicting that the results will exceed expectations (EPS-$0.26). In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to semiconductor-related stocks after the related announcement, as it will include information suggesting prospects for the semiconductor industry.
In addition, performances of Chinese companies such as Chinese electric car maker Xiaopeng on Tuesday (Tuesday) and Chinese online retailer Pinduoduo (PDD) on Wednesday (Wednesday) and Nike (NKE) on Thursday (Thursday) show their consumption patterns in China. On top of that, the global economy can be predicted through the performance of logistics company FedEx on Thursday (Thursday).

03/18 (Monday)
China: Retail Sales, Industrial Production, Fixed Assets Investment
US: Housing Market Index
Events: Nvidia GTC (~21st), World Petrochemical Conference (~22nd)
Remarks: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang speaks at GTC (5:00 a.m. on the 19th in Korean time)

03/19 (Tue)
Germany: ZEW Economic Expectations Index
United States: Housing Construction, Number of Permits
Bonds: U.S. 1-year, 20-year Treasury tenders
Meeting: Japan (BOJ), Australia (RBA) Monetary Policy Meeting
Events: Nvidia GTC: Accelerated Computing, Generative AI, Robots Announce
Earnings: XPEV, Tencent Music (TME)

03/20 (Wednesday)
China: LPR Rate Decision
Germany: Producer Price Index
Meeting: FOMC
Speech: Fed Chair Powell
Companies: Broadcom (AVGO): Holding an AI-activated investing day, pricing Reddit (RDDT) IPO
Earnings: Micron (MU), Pinduoduo (PDD), Jinkosola (JKS), KB Home (KBH), Chewy (CHWY)

03/21 (Thursday)
Eurozone: Manufacturing, Services PMI
US: Manufacturing, service PMI
US: Number of existing home sales, leading economic index, Philadelphia Fed index
Meeting: UK (BOE) Monetary Policy Meeting
Earnings: Exenture, Nike (NKE), FedEx (FDX), Lululemon (LULU)

03/22 (Fri)
Germany: Ifo Business Environment Index
Meeting: EU Summit (~22nd)
Remarks: Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta