Weekly Economic Calendar

January 21 – January 24, 2025 

Economic Data Highlights
This week is a relatively light week in terms of economic releases. Here are a couple of highlights:

On Tuesday (Jan. 21), Statistics Canada published inflation figures for December 2024. Canada's annual inflation rate eased to 1.8%, down from 1.9% in November, falling slightly below market expectations. This marks the lowest inflation rate since September and the fifth consecutive month within or below the Bank of Canada’s 2% midpoint target. The slowdown strengthens expectations for further interest rate cuts in 2025. On a monthly basis, consumer prices in Canada declined by 0.4%.Key factors contributing to the decline include a sharp decrease in food inflation (0.6% vs. 2.8% in November), driven by lower costs for food purchased from restaurants, influenced by tax breaks on goods and services.

On Thursday (Jan. 23), The U.S Department of Labor releases the number of initial jobless claims for the week ended on January 18th.  The market forecast is 220K and the prior reading was 217K. The US labor market continues to show signs of strength. As in recent past, the labor market numbers will give the market hints on the future path of inflation, and how that will affect Fed actions in the upcoming meeting next week.

Also on Thursday, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will be publishing its rate decision. Currently the market expects the BoJ to hike rates by 25bps to 0.50%. Also, the same day Japan will be releasing Japan’s inflation figures for December 2024.  

Economic Calendar