Economic Calendar - Currencies

In Australia, Melbourne Institute Inflation Expectations survey measures consumers’ median expectations for price growth over the coming 12 months.

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 China, Housing Index is measured by year-over-year change in the index of newly built residential buildings in 70 medium and large cities. The index is calculated in weighted average method and the weight of each city is based on the 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.

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, 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.

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

In China, urban investment in fixed assets is one of the main measures of capital spending. It refers to investment in construction projects with a total planned investment of 5 million yuan; machinery and equipment and real estate development in both urban and rural areas. It refers to investment made by state-owned enterprises and private businesses, institutions or individuals.

In China, Urban Surveyed Unemployment Rate is calculated by a sample survey, which refers to the ratio of urban unemployed population to the sum of the employed population and the unemployed population.

In China, the growth rate in GDP measures the change in the seasonally adjusted value of the goods and services produced by the Chinese economy during the quarter. As China’s traditional growth engines of manufacturing and construction are slowing down, services have emerged as the new driver. In the last few quarters strength in services and consumption helped to offset weaker manufacturing and exports. .

In China, Gross Domestic Product is divided by three sectors: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. The Primary Industry includes Farming, Forestry, Animal Husbandry, and Fishery and accounts for around 9 percent of GDP. The Secondary sector, which includes Industry (40 percent of GDP) and Construction (9 percent of GDP) is the most important. The Tertiary sector accounts for the remaining 44 percent of total output and consist of Wholesale and Retail Trades; Transport, Storage, and Post; Financial Intermediation; Real Estate; Hotel and Catering Services and Others.

In China, Capacity Utilization is the difference between the potential and actual use of an input. Capacity utilization is high when actual output is close to potential output because the most use is being made of labor and capital. The survey includes about 90,000 industrial enterprises.

In China, the year-over-year change in Retail sales compares the aggregated sales of retail goods and services during a certain month to the same month a year ago.

In Switzerland, the producer price index (which measures the price development of goods that are produced and sold by enterprises operating within the country) and the import price index (which measures the price development of imported goods) are combined into the price index for the whole range of goods. Only domestic sales are considered for the producer price index when combining the indices.

In Switzerland, the Producer Price Index (PPI) is officially named “Producer and Import Price Index”. Producer price index measures the price development of goods that are produced and sold by enterprises operating within the country and the import price index measures the price development of imported goods. Only domestic sales are considered for the producer price index when combining the indices.

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.