From a more hawkish Fed to Trump's infrastructure plan - UOB

Analysts at UOB Group explained that, on the monetary policy front, there is again no central bank monetary policy decision among G7 this week but attention will be on the US Federal Reserve as the Fed is now seen to be more hawkish on inflation expectations especially after the higher-than-expected January wage growth and CPI inflation. 

Key Quotes:

"Ahead of newly-minted Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s first Congress testimony on 28 Feb, the Fed focus this week will be on the 30/31 Jan 2018 FOMC minutes on 21 Feb and on various senior Fed officials speaking in public forums (who are voters in 2018 FOMC) including Dudley (22 Feb), Bostic (22 Feb) and Williams (23 Feb). 

US domestic politics could continue to dominate US headlines this week following US FBI special counsel Mueller’s sweeping indictment of 13 Russians last Friday (16 Feb) that detailed how they led social-media and grassroots efforts to attack president Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton and fuel political divides in the US. 

US domestic politics will also likely revolve around the debate on president’s Trump’s infrastructure plan, and further developments on his “reciprocal tax”."