Monday Morning Meeting Notes (03/18/2024)

General Info:

• U.S. consumer price index (CPI) data for February showed that inflation remains stubborn in many categories
• CPI rose 0.4% month-over-month and 3.2% year-over-year (vs. expectations of 0.4% and 3.1%)
• Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.4% month-over-month and 3.8% year-over-year (vs. expectations of 0.3% and 3.7%)
• Fun Fact: Turritopsis dohrnii (aka The Immortal Jellyfish) is a species of jellyfish that is known to be able to revert back into its adolescent state after going through adulthood. Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal

Monday 03/18:

• China retail sales and industrial production for February
• Eurozone CPI data for February

Tuesday 03/19:

• First day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere
• U.S. housing starts and building permits data for February
• U.S. cross-border investment for January
• Bank of Japan (BOJ) monetary policy decision
• Rumors have swirled that this meeting (or the next one) could mark the potential end to the central bank’s negative interest rate policy (the BOJ policy balance rate is currently -0.10%)
• Canada CPI data for February

Wednesday 03/20:

• National Ravioli Day
• PDD Holdings, Micron Technology, General Mills, and Prudential report earnings
• U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy decision, followed by Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference
• U.K. CPI data for February
• Taiwan export orders for February
• Opening Day for Major League Baseball takes place in Seoul, South Korea with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres

Thursday 03/21:

• Accenture PLC, Nike, and FedEx report earnings
• U.S. initial jobless claims and continuing claims data
• U.S. existing home sales for February
• U.S. Conference Board leading index for February
• S&P Global Manufacturing PMI data for the U.S., Eurozone, U.K., Germany, France, Japan, and India
• S&P Global Services PMI data for the U.S., Eurozone, U.K., Germany, France, Japan, and India
• Bank of England (BOE) monetary policy decision
• Swiss National Bank monetary policy decision
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) releases its U.S. spring weather outlook and flood assessment

Friday 03/22:

• Japan CPI data for February
• Canada retail sales for January
• Taiwan unemployment data for February