Key events on Thursday - Westpac

FXStreet (Bali) - Sean Callow, FX Strategist at Westpac, breaks down the key events for the day ahead.

Key Quotes

The Westpac forecast for Aust retail sales (11:30am Syd) in Dec is for a slight fall to -0.1% while the market median is 0.3%. Retail trade has risen 1.8% since Aug, with iPhone 6/ tech product sales a large driver. While the surge in electrical & electronic goods should normalise in the coming months, Q4 should still be another solid quarter for retail sale volumes.

A quiet day in the Asian calendar; the main event is the release Indonesian Q4 GDP at 2pm Syd/10am local.

The Bank of England will have their MPC meeting and rate announcement. Market consensus is for the rate to remain unchanged. In the last meeting, the vote for rates to remain on hold was unanimous for the first time since Aug 2014. In the US, further jobs data will be released – initial jobless claims, and Q4 unit labour costs and productivity. Productivity looks set to slow with growth after a strong Q3, while labour costs have been held down by strong growth through mid-2014.