Dollar Data Takes Center Stage (page 1 of 3)

Australian Gross Domestic Product (YoY) (4Q) (00:30 GMT; 19:30 EST)

Consensus: 3.0%
Previous: 2.6%

Outlook: Australia's economy, the fifth largest in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to have quickened its pace of growth in the final quarter of 2005 by 0.8 percent from the three months ending in September.

While consumer spending and a booming housing market, both strong contributors to expansion in the previous quarter, cooled the final three months of the year; many economists believe that an increase in business spending had more than offset the deceleration. Consumers reigned in their aggressive spending habits in the fourth quarter after gasoline prices spiked to record highs which further amplified consistently expensive lending rates effects.

Retail sales and building approvals over the period, though stronger than those of the previous quarter, were both below the longer-term average. Aussies' ability to continue spending can partially be attributable to sustained wage growth and an unemployment rate near its recent historical low. Conversely, business investment is expected to have supplied the economy's growth to expected levels. In the final month of the year, manufacturing activity accelerated to a six month high and exports surged to a record A$16.27 billion - primarily on the back of raw material producers.

If capital expenditure does prove the new backbone of growth for Australia, the improvements to facilities will help to stem inflation due to capacity constraints. Consequently, RBA Governor Ian Macfarlane's statement that rates are more likely to go up than down in the future may be suspect to revisions.

Previous: Growth in Australia's A$860 billion economy slowed significantly in the third quarter of the year to a 0.2 percent pace of expansion from a much stronger 1.3 percent rate the quarter before. The source of slower growth lied with a drop in government spending and exports that complimented the degrading pace of consumer spending and a waning housing market. Australia's government cut its spending by 5.2 percent in the third quarter.

Shipments abroad were also a draw on growth. Aussie goods destined for foreign consumption fell 2.3 percent for the period led by a 3.5 percent crimp in mining. Raw material producers, long suppliers of growth, saw their pace of sales slip in the quarter after seeing prices for the goods stall after long periods of uninterrupted growth.

However, despite the drop in growth for the quarter before, the annual pace of expansion only edged back to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent in the three months ending in June. The annual measure was salvaged by the slow shift of growth led by consumer spending habits to a regime of growth led by business spending.

Euro-Zone PMI Manufacturing Survey (FEB) (09:00 GMT; 04:00 EST)

Consensus: 54.1
Previous: 53.5

Outlook: Manufacturing in the European region is on a track to report its eighth consecutive month of growth - indicated by a survey reading of 50 or above. A market consensus of a rise in manufacturers' optimism to 54.1 comes in line with a sharp decline in oil prices that will allow producers to meet the steady foreign demand that has carried orders over the past quarters' steady decline in domestic demand.

Crude prices fell from its perch near record-level prices at $69 in the end of January and the beginning of February to below $58. While exports over the previous month have remained unfettered by the higher energy prices, the decline will only serve to improve the picture.