The Business News Week Ahead

The week opens with a flurry of PMI flashes on Monday that will offer early assessments of September activity ranging from France and Germany to the United States. Continued weakness centered in manufacturing is the general consensus. Confidence surveys are also out in force including Ifo business and Gfk consumer data out of Germany, the business climate indicator out of France, as well as US consumer confidence and EC economic sentiment. The only central bank announcement is on Wednesday from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand which, at a policy rate of 1.00 percent, has already cut rates by 75 basis points this year including a 50-basis-point move at their August meeting. Inflation will be highlighted by preliminary September data from France and August PCE price data out of the US. The US will also post advance data on international trade as well as advance data on durable goods orders, the latter including details on core capital goods and the latest on business investment. If all the results go as planned, trouble in manufacturing tied to slowing global trade in tandem with subdued price pressures would confirm expectations for continued central bank stimulus.