Economic Calendar - Currencies

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index of Economic Activity combines a selection of economic variables that typically lead fluctuations in economic activity into a single measure that provides a reliable cyclical indicator for the Australian economy. The index includes the following components: S&P/ASX 200, dwelling approvals, US industrial production, RBA Commodity Prices Index (A$), aggregate monthly hours worked, Westpac-MI CSI expectations index, Westpac-MI Unemployment expectations index, yield spread (10Y bond – 90D bill). The index has a base value of 100 as of 1996.

In Australia, persons employed part time are those employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week in all jobs.

In Australia, employment change refers to the absolute change in the number of persons who work for pay or profit, or perform unpaid family work. Estimates include both full-time and part-time employment.

In Australia, full time employment change refers to the change in the number of employed persons who usually work 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working fewer than 35 hours a week, work 35 hours or more during the reference week.

In Australia, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force.

The labour force participation rates is the number of persons who are employed and unemployed but looking for a job divided by the total working-age population.

In Japan, interest rates are set by the Bank of Japan's Policy Board in its Monetary Policy Meetings. The BoJ's official interest rate is the discount rate. Monetary Policy Meetings produce a guideline for money market operations in inter-meeting periods and this guideline is written in terms of a target for the uncollateralized overnight call rate.

The activity index of the tertiary industry helps to understand an overall picture of industrial activities, inclusive of all business categories in the tertiary industry. The composite index is a general indicator in which the indexes to express the activity in respective business categories are consolidated with weight in terms of the scale of relative importance of each business category (value added). Wholesale Trade is the most important sector and accounts for 15 percent of tertiary activity, followed by Medical, Health Care & Welfare and Living & Amusement-related Services (12 percent each), Information & Communications (11 percent), Retail Trade and Transport & Postal Activities (10 percent each), Finance and Insurance (9 percent), Real Estate (8 percent), Business-related Services (7 percent), and Electricity, Gas, Heat Supply & Water and Goods Rental and Leasing (3 percent each).

CFIB’s Business Barometer tracks small business confidence, expectations and operating conditions in Canada. It was revised as of the May 2009 issue. It is based on the same survey question on 12-month future business performance expectations collected annually 1987-2000, quarterly 2001-2008 and monthly since late 2008. The index is a weighted average of response scores: 100 for stronger performance, 50 for same performance, and 0 for weaker performance. The data are not seasonally adjusted.

In Turkey, Foreign Exchange Reserves refer to gross foreign exchange reserves held or controlled by the country's central bank, excluding gold.

In Brazil, the Economic Activity Index (IBC-Br) is considered as a preview of the GDP figures and it is widely used by the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee to determine whether to modify basic interest rate. The index reflects the performance of the three main sectors of the economy: agriculture, industry and services and has a base value of 100 as of 2002.

In Canada, a housing start is defined as the beginning of construction work on the building where the dwelling unit will be located. This can be described in 2 ways: usually, the stage when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure; or an equivalent stage where a basement will not be part of the structure.

In Canada, Manufacturing Sales provides a current 'snapshot' of sales of goods manufactured values by the Canadian manufacturing sector, enabling analysis of the state of the Canadian economy, as well as the health of specific industries in the short- to medium-term.

In Canada, New Motor Vehicle Sales refers to the number of new motor vehicles sold during a month, including passenger cars and trucks.

In Canada, benchmark interest rate is set by the Bank of Canada's (BoC) Governing Council. The official interest rate is the Overnight Rate. Since 1996 the Bank Rate is set at the upper limit of an operating band for the money market overnight rate. Previously, from March 1980 until February 1996 the Bank Rate was set at 25 basis points above the weekly average tender rate for 3-month Treasury bills.

Foreign Investments in Japanese Stocks refers to the net difference between inflow and outflow of investments in Japanese stock market by foreigners.