key events and themes

The week ahead (key themes and events):
- Shorter trading week due to Easter weekend
- Australian CPI, retail sales
- BOJ summary of opinions, Tokyo CPI
- US GDP

With traders desperately trying to price in an RBA cut this year, the attention shifts to Australia’s monthly CPI report and retail sales. The RBA still think that inflation remains “too high”, so any soft figures here could bolster bets of easing. Retail sales is likely second tier data at best, but if we’re treated to lower consumer prices alongside soft retail sales, conviction if a cut likely grows. With that said, I very much doubt the RBA have the appetite to cut any times soon unless data really does come in soft.