Economic data for the week ahead gets into full steam with various central bank meetings lined up alongside important economic data.

The RBA, the BoC, the BoJ and the ECB will be holding the monetary policy meetings respectively.

Overall, no major changes are expected from the central bank decisions this week. Focus will of course turn to the ECB’s meeting.

On the economic front, the Australian GDP will be coming out this week while in the U.S. the monthly nonfarm payrolls report will potentially make or break the prospects for a March rate hike.

Elsewhere, the UK will be releasing its annual budget this week.

U.S. payrolls could cement rate hike expectations

On Friday, the monthly payrolls data will be coming out covering the month of February.

This will be the final payrolls report ahead of the Fed’s meeting due later this month. Focus will no doubt turn to the wage growth factor which as remained mixed.

With inflation still being a concern, investors will be looking to higher wage growth data.

This could potentially signal expectations for a rate hike in March.

So far, the overall U.S. economy has been rising at a steady pace and recently officials have also commented that interest rates need to rise in order to prevent the economy from overheating