A leading measure of investor confidence in Germany is expected to show growth for a third straight month as the country gears up to become increasingly responsible for its own defence. 

An analysts’ poll predicted that the forward-looking economic sentiment reading from a survey conducted by Germany’s ZEW economic institute will improve to 65.0 points from last month’s 59.6, which was the best showing since July 2021. 

The institute’s current conditions indicator is expected to stay in negative territory – its home since December 2021 – by improving to -65.7 from -72.7 in December. “The ZEW will very likely show an improvement similar to what the Sentix did,” Oxford Economics wrote, referring to another German monthly poll of investor confidence. (LS – Continue Reading) 

Australia's central bank concluded inflation would stay stubbornly high if it had not hiked interest rates as it did this month, and was not yet sure if further tightening would be necessary. 

Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's board meeting released on Tuesday showed members were worried that the risks to its inflation and employment mandates had "shifted materially", making the case to hike the stronger one. 

"Members agreed that the data received since the previous meeting had strengthened their concern that, without a policy response, inflation would remain persistently above target for too long," the minutes showed. (RTRS – Continue Reading) 

The Bank of Japan is likely to seize on a raft of new data available in April as an opportunity to raise its benchmark interest rate, looking past rumblings in the market over the possibility of a move in March, according to a former BoJ board member.

“A rate hike in March would entail risk, as it would be based on expectations, not confirmation,” Seiji Adachi said Monday in an interview. “They’ll have a lot of data they can use to confirm improvement in underlying inflation in April.” (BBG – Continue Reading)