Economic Calendar - Currencies

The Reuters Tankan is a monthly survey of leading Japanese companies, and it was formally known as Telerate Tankan until it was renamed after the acquisition of Quick Money line Telerate Corp. by Thomson Reuters Group. It covers a panel of 200 manufacturers and 200 non-manufacturers. The monthly figures are designed to provide early indications of the BOJs quarterly tankan. The indexes are derived by subtracting the percentage of respondents who say business conditions are poor from the percentage of those who say they are good.

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

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

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 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 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.

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.

In Japan, industrial production measures the output of businesses integrated in industrial sector of the economy such as manufacturing, mining, and utilities.

In Japan, industrial production measures the output of businesses integrated in industrial sector of the economy such as manufacturing, mining, and utilities.

In Japan, capacity utilization is the quantity of production divided by the quantity of production capacity, expressing the state of operations for various facilities in the manufacturing industry. It does not measure the absolute level of capacity utilization but the relative capacity utilization rate compared with the benchmark year.

Switzerland has been running consistent trade surpluses. The biggest trade surpluses are recorded with the US, India, the UK, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore; and the largest deficits were recorded with the UAE, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Thailand.

In Switzerland, interest rate decisions are taken by the Swiss National Bank. The official interest rate is the SNB policy rate. The SNB seeks to keep the secured short-term Swiss franc money market rates close to the SNB policy rate. SARON is the most representative of these rates today. As of 13 June 2019, the SNB policy rate replaced the target range for the three-month Swiss franc Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) previously used in the SNB's monetary policy strategy. The reason for this adjustment was that the Libor was becoming less relevant as the most important reference rate owing to the absence of the underlying money market transactions. From 6 September 2011 to 15 January 2015, the main focus of implementation was on the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, which the SNB enforced during this period. On 18 December 2014, the SNB decided to impose an interest rate of -0.25% on sight deposit account balances. With the announcement of a negative interest rate, the Libor target range used then was taken into negative territory for the first time, and extended to its usual width of 1 percentage point. On 15 January 2015, the SNB lowered the interest rate on sight deposits to -0.75% and moved the target range downwards to between -1.25% and -0.25%. Negative interest has applied since 22 January 2015 and currently corresponds to the SNB policy rate.

In China, Foreign Direct Investment refers to foreign capital actually utilized, which is to the amount which has been actually used according to the agreements and contracts, including cash, materials and invisible capital such as labor service and technology which both parties agree to take as an investment.

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

New Zealand imports mainly vehicles (13 percent), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances (13 percent), fuels (10 percent), electrical machinery and equipment (8 percent), plastics (4 percent) and aircraft, spacecraft (4 percent). Its major import partners are: China (20 percent of total imports), Australia and the US (12 percent each), Japan (7 percent), Germany (5 percent), Thailand and South Korea (4 percent each).

New Zealand’s economy is greatly dependent on international trade. It’s been based traditionally on exports from its very efficient agricultural system. The country exports mainly dairy produce, birds' eggs, natural honey, edible products of animal origin (24 percent of total exports), meat and edible meat offal (14 percent), wood and articles of wood (7 percent), fruit and nuts, peel of citrus fruit or melons (5 percent) and beverages, spirits and vinegar (4 percent). The main export partners are China (18 percent of total exports), Australia (17 percent), the US (12 percent), Japan (6 percent), the UK and South Korea (3 percent each).

New Zealand is greatly dependent on international trade. New Zealand's economy has traditionally been based on a foundation of exports from its very efficient agricultural system: dairy products, meat, forest products, fruit and beverages. New Zealand imports mainly vehicles, machinery and equipment, petroleum, electronics, plastics and aircraft. Its main trading partners are: China, Australia, the US, Japan and South Korea.