Highlights of the week ended March 6

Note: This section contains information in English only.
Source: Dukascopy Bank SA
Euro zone
The ECB will start its QE programme as soon as March 9, Mario Draghi announced on March 5. In addition to that, the central bank revised downwards its inflation outlook for the Euro zone for this year due to persistent decline in oil prices. The ECB now expects consumer inflation to be flat in 2015, a downward revision from a December forecast of 0.7%. As for 2016, the inflation outlook was revised higher to 1.5% against 1.3% estimated previously, reflecting expectations for the oil rout to wind down. Looking ahead, in 2017, the ECB sees inflation at 1.8% - close, but still below the bank's goal of near but just below 2%. Meanwhile, inflation in the Euro bloc rebounded somewhat in February from the recent six-year low, moving closer to positive territory. Nevertheless, the indicator has remained in red for the third consecutive month. Prices in 19 member states were 0.3% lower than in the previous year in February, following a dramatic 0.6% fall in January. The ECB has also become more optimistic on economic growth outlook. The central bank revised its GDP growth outlook to 1.5% in 2015 up from 1.0% estimated in December and 1.9% in 2016, compared to 1.5% in the December estimate. Meanwhile, 2017 growth is forecast at 2.1%.

US
Fed's preferred gauge of US consumer prices dropped in January partly due to lower oil prices, undershooting the central bank's goal of 2% annual inflation for the 33rd straight month. The price index for personal consumption expenditures climbed 0.2% in January from the previous year, following the annual growth of 0.8% in December. It was the lowest level for headline inflation since October 2009, when prices ticked up 0.1% from a year earlier after seven months of annual price drops as the 2007-2009 recession ended. Separately, US private employers added more than 200,000 workers to payrolls in February for the 13th consecutive month, in a latest sign that strong hiring should underpin the world's number one economy this year. US companies created 212,000 jobs last month, recording a solid gain, but missing expectations for a 219,000 new jobs and following 250,000 jobs in January. Also, the number of Americans filling new claims for unemployment benefits rose in the week ended February 28, breaking above 300,000 threshold. Initial jobless claims across the US increased to a seasonally adjusted 320,000 in the measured period, following the last week's figure of 313,000.

UK
The Bank of England opted to keep the interest rate unchanged in March, marking six years since policy makers reduced borrowing costs to all-time low levels to help the UK economy recover from a deep recession. While the economic recovery brings prospects of rate hikes closer, annual inflation at 0.3% and the likelihood of an outright decline in prices in coming months put little pressure on central bankers to act. Besides, prospect of a very low near-term inflation led the MPC members to unite on rate vote in January after five months of a disagreement at the panel.

Australia
Australia's economy experienced a tepid growth in Q4, marking the slowest annual pace of growth last year, adding to the case of further RBA actions in the coming months to revive the economy. Fourth-quarter GDP rose 2.5% from the year-ago period, following the 2.7% growth in the preceding quarter. On a quarterly basis, the economy expanded 0.5%, a slight improvement after growing 0.3% in the September quarter. The RBA kept the OCR on hold, but highlighted that further monetary policy easing is possible in the coming months in order to fuel growth in demand and inflation. Governor Glenn Stevens reiterated the sluggish pace of Australia's economic rebalancing, the stubbornly strong Aussie Dollar, as well as spare capacity in the labour market.

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