The Business News Week Ahead

The week looks to open with fourth-quarter contraction in Japanese GDP, a result that could well focus on what to expect for the first quarter and its virus effects. Solid results are the call for the UK labour market report on Tuesday after which a heavy week begins to unfold including German business sentiment with the ZEW report and Canadian manufacturing sales, also both on Tuesday. Japanese machine orders, which are always volatile, open Wednesday's session with Japanese trade and CPI to follow. CPI data will also be posted in the UK and Canada at midweek, with consumer confidence reports scheduled for the Eurozone and Germany on Thursday. Data from the US will be light and centered in housing, a key area of strength with the week's reports to include housing starts and existing home sales. But the biggest news likely comes at week's end on Friday with flash PMIs out of Europe where a general lack of improvement in February, following solid January results, should be no surprise