The week ahead looks relatively quiet with only the FOMC meeting minutes standing out mid-week.

The ECB will also be releasing its meeting minutes this week. Both the central bank’s meeting minutes will cover the monetary policy event from the month of March.

On the economic front, the U.S. consumer price index data will be coming out this week.

A number of central bank speeches are also lined up which include the BoJ, the RBA and the Bank of England.

The BoC will be releasing its business outlook survey which shed light into the business sentiment in the economy.

China will be releasing the inflation data this week with forecasts pointing to a slower pace of increase in consumer prices.

Central banker speeches line up during the week

The week ahead will also be marked by a lineup of speeches from various central bank governors that includes Kuroda from the BoJ, Lowe from the RBA and Carney from the Bank of England.

Among the central bank speeches, investors will likely pay close attention to comments from the Bank of England.

The BoE held rates steady at its previous meeting but signaled that interest rates will be hike for a second time at the next BoE meeting that is scheduled for the month of May.

The recent decline in UK’s business activity among the three main sectors could however raise some concerns as the first quarter GDP for the UK is expected to average around 0.3%.

In this aspect, Carney’s speech will be crucial for the markets in shaping the expectations surrounding the May rate hike.

Meanwhile, the speeches from the RBA and the BoJ are unlikely to cause a major concern for market watchers.

Following last week’s RBA meeting where interest rates were left unchanged, the speech by RBA governor Lowe is unlikely to spark any market reaction.

From the BoJ, Governor Kuroda is likely to remain neutral in his speech as far as monetary policy is concerned.