Amid last week's main disappointments, we can mention Chinese GDP report in the beginning of the trading week. The world's second largest economy slowed for a second straight quarter, with economic output expanding 7.5% on annual basis in the June quarter, meeting analysts' expectations, however, down from 7.7% a quarter earlier. Soon after the report analysts at Nomura had lowered their growth forecast for the upcoming years, saying the Chinese economy will grow 6.9% in 2014 down from 7.5% expected earlier. Outlook for this year was not revised.
A series of economic data from Switzerland was released last week, sending mixed signals about the economic outlook. Hence, Swiss foreign trade surplus rose more than expected in June, as a fall in imports outpaced drop in exports. The country posted a 2.73 billion francs surplus in June, slightly higher compared with previous month's figure, when surplus stood at 2.2 billion. In addition to that, producer and imports prices in Switzerland rose less than expected in June from a month earlier, reflecting that manufacturers are more worried about future economic performance of the country, and raising concerns over weak growth in the second quarter. According to the Federal Statistics, the prices of domestically produced and imported goods advanced 0.1% last month, reversing May's 0.3% fall, and slightly below analysts' expectations of a 0.3% rise. The only bright spot was a survey from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research, which showed that confidence among Swiss investors improved slightly this month. A gauge of investor and analysts expectations, designed to predict the economic development during the next six months, rose to 4.8% in July, up from 2.2 points a month earlier. An index remains above the 0.0 threshold, which separates optimism from pessimism, since January 2013, however, has not reached even 2010 high, suggesting the economy is developing, albeit slower than expected. The Swiss Franc was not very volatile last week, advancing 0.03% versus the Euro and 0.8% against the greenback.
This week traders should keep an eye on New Zealand's central bank rate decision on Wednesday, while on Thursday British Office for National Statistics will unveil Q2 growth figures.