The Business News Week Ahead

Five major policy announcements but expectations, perhaps, of a change for only one: the Federal Reserve and whether it begins to unfold plans for reducing asset purchases. That will be on Wednesday preceded by China's loan prime rate announcement on Tuesday and an announcement by the Bank of Japan, expected earlier Wednesday. Policy announcements will follow on Thursday, first from the Swiss National Bank then the Bank of England. Flash PMIs for the month of September will be posted on Thursday, first for Japan, then France, Germany, the UK and the US. Substantial strength for manufacturing is the general expectation, and moderate strength for services. Japan will head the week's inflation data with the CPI on Friday preceded by Germany's PPI that will open the week's calendar on Monday. Sentiment data will be heavy in the week led off by the EC consumer confidence flash on Wednesday followed later in the week by business sentiment from France and Germany and business and consumer sentiment from Italy. Canadian retail sales and US jobless claims will be reports to watch on Thursday as will the latest on the US housing sector: housing starts and permits on Tuesday and new home sales on Friday.