All Eyes will be on Berlin next week August 24th as Angela Merkel, German chancellor, will meet Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister.  They will have bilateral talks regarding a Greek government proposal for a two-year extension of its austerity programme agreed in its €130bn rescue package.

Meanwhile, Spain is about to receive an emergency payment from the €100 billion ($123 billion) bailout of its financial system because of the European Central Bank’s imposed restrictions on bank borrowing.

All Eyes will be on Berlin next week August 24th as Angela Merkel, German chancellor, will meet Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister.  They will have bilateral talks regarding a Greek government proposal for a two-year extension of its austerity programme agreed in its €130bn rescue package.

Meanwhile, Spain is about to receive an emergency payment from the €100 billion ($123 billion) bailout of its financial system because of the European Central Bank’s imposed restrictions on bank borrowing.

In the United States, the inflation report for July shows an annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which should enable the Federal Reserve to concentrate on trying to strengthen growth after a disappointing pace of activity in the first half of 2012. Additional stimulus, such as further asset purchases, remains an option although likely only exercised in the face of indications that growth fails to gain traction in the final two quarters of this year.

In the United Kingdom employment fell by 46,000 to 2.56 million in the three months to the end of June. The unemployment rate fell to 8.0% in the period, down from 8.2% in the previous quarter. In addition, the number of employees and self-employed people working part-time because they could not find full-time work rose by 16,000 over the quarter to reach 1.42million, which was the highest figure since records began in 1992.

Today’s Fundamentals

09:30 United Kingdom: Retail Sales (YoY) (Jul) – Consensus predict a slight decrease at 1.4% from previous position 1.6% which will be negative or bearish for the GBP.

09:30 United Kingdom: Retail Sales ex-Fuel (YoY) (Jul) – Another decrease expected at 2.0% from previous position 2.2% which will be negative or bearish for the GBP.

10:00 European Monetary Union: Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Jul) – This is expected to stay the same at 2.4% which will bring stability for the Euro.

10:00 European Monetary Union: Consumer Price Index – Core (YoY) (Jul) – Consensus predicts a slight increase at 1.9% from the previous position 1.6% which will be positive or bullish for the Euro.

10:00 European Monetary Union: Consumer Price Index (MoM) (Jul) – This is expected to decrease at -0.5% from previous position -0.1% which will be negative or bearish for the Euro.

13:30 United States: Building Permits (MoM) (Jul) – Expected to stay the same at 0.754M which will bring stability for the USD.

15:00 United States: Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey (Aug) – Consensus predicts an increase at -5.0 from the previous position -12.9 which will be positive or bullish for the USD.

To get a live exchange rate login to RationalFX now