The Business News Week Ahead

Central banks will dominate a heavy week for the economic calendar, primarily the Federal Reserve which on Wednesday is expected to cut rates for a second straight meeting but only by an incremental 25 basis points. Key will be how Fed Chair Jerome Powell describes the possible rate cut, as an extension of an established stimulus effort or only a "mid-cycle policy adjustment" as he did at the Fed's last meeting in July. The Swiss National Bank may also cut rates at its meeting on Thursday though no action is expected from either the Bank of Japan on Wednesday or the Bank of England on Thursday. Economic data will unroll first thing Monday with an August round of key Chinese data led by industrial production and also including fixed asset investment and retail sales with improvement largely the expectation overall. Manufacturing sales will be posted out of Canada on Tuesday as will industrial production out of the US where only marginal improvement from July contraction is expected for August. Consumer inflation reports out of the UK and Canada will be posted on Wednesday and increasing price pressures are not expected. Sentiment reports will be posted on Tuesday with Germany's ZEW report on business expectations and on Friday with the Eurozone's consumer confidence report. Retail sales will round out the week on Friday, from the UK and Canada where forecasters see mixed results.