The economic calendar for the week ahead gets underway with some of the key central bank monetary policy decisions that are lined up consecutively starting Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the FOMC will be holding its monetary policy meeting where interest rates are set to rise.

This is followed by the ECB’s meeting on Thursday and then the Bank of Japan’s meeting on Friday.

No changes are expected either from the ECB or the BoJ.

On the economic front, the data from the UK will see the release of the inflation report followed by the monthly labor market data.

The UK’s industrial production figures will also be coming out during the week.

ECB and the BoJ to remain on the sidelines

The ECB will be meeting on Thursday but interest rates are expected to remain unchanged.

Investors will be closely monitoring the ECB’s statement and Draghi’s press conference about ending QE in September 2018.

Recent economic data from the Eurozone remained weak but latest flash estimates point that inflation inched closer to the ECB’s 2% inflation target rate.

Investors will also be looking for answers about the developments in Italy.

Following the ECB’s meeting, on Friday the Bank of Japan will be holding its monetary policy meeting.

The BoJ is expected to remain on the sidelines after it removed the time frame for targeting inflation.

In recent days, the BoJ was seen slowing the pace of bond purchases as part of its QE operations.

This leads to speculation on whether the BoJ will be slowing its QE program, a question that will be answered on Friday’s BoJ meeting.