Big week ahead
In the US, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver testimony and take questions from lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday. He's expected to echo fellow central bankers in suggesting interest rates will go higher than policymakers anticipated just weeks ago. ECB's Lagarde is also due to speak on Wednesday. In Japan, the Bank of Japan's governor is set to make his final interest rate announcement, which will continue to be no change on Friday. We also have the US non-farm payrolls due on Friday, which can be a market mover again after the bumper print for Jan, which changed the market landscape for Feb.
Rand will take its cue from the data
The rand is sitting a bit weaker today but still within the last few weeks' R18.12 to R18.50 range. As mentioned above, it's a big week on the data front, and we have our local Q4 GDP data out on Wednesday. The expectations are not looking rosy, as load-shedding probably hampered growth. We will need a break on either side of the range for the rand to have fresh impetus, and we could likely see it this week.
