The JPY is under pressure as the market awaits three central bank decisions

Fed rate decision

A big week for central banks is starting, and it may be a week where there is little coordinated action. On Wednesday, there's the Federal Reserve rate decision (Fed) at 7 p.m. UK time. While the target rate is expected to rise by 25 basis points, the most interesting thing about this release is the press conference to see what's behind the decision and to what degree there will be dissent. There's building evidence that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may already have done enough, and this expected rate rise may be indicated as the last, at least for the time being.

European Central Bank

Then on Thursday. 1:15pm UK time, there's the European Central Bank decision. While the outcome that's expected is forecast to be the same as for the US, with the refinancing rate rising by 25 basis points to 4.25%, there's a fair bet that the European Central Bank (ECB) will indicate that their job is far from over.

Bank of Japan

Finally, on Friday, it's the Bank of Japan's turn. Economists believe that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) rate decision will be as it's been since it first adopted negative rates in 2016, with a short-term interest rate target of -0.1%.

Ryanair

Ryanair posted a €663 million after-tax profit for the three months ending in June. It also lowered its passenger growth forecast for 2023 because of Boeing delivery delays. It now expects traffic in the year to March 2024 to grow by 9% to around 183.5 million, compared to the 185 million originally expected.

Philips

Phillips operating income rose to €221Mln in the second quarter, up from €11Mln a year ago, and beating estimates of €149Mln. Revenue also beat estimates, at €4.5Bln. Philips also said that it has produced approximately 99% of the new replacement respiratory devices it needed to provide. In June 2021, the group was forced to recall of millions of respirators used to treat sleep apnoea.

US earnings report

Files group was to recall millions of respirators used to treat sleep apnea. This week is arguably the busiest week of the quarter in terms of US earnings reports. On Tuesday, the market awaits quarterly earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft, Visa, GM, Verizon, and Snap. On Wednesday, Boeing,Coca-Cola , and AT&T were followed on Thursday by Intel, Ford Motor, Comcast, and McDonald's, and on Friday by Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Procter & Gamble.

Chevron

US oil giant Chevron said last Friday that its second-quarter earnings topped Wall Street estimates Chief Executive Michael Wirth also signaled the business remains open to more acquisitions and to increasing shareholder distributions this year. Reuters says, in a rare preview of its results that coincided with the announced retirement of its finance chief, Chevron disclosed a $5.8 billion net profit in the quarter ended June 30. Full results will be disclosed on Friday, July 28. The total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by six this week, according to Baker Hughes, taking the total rig count down to 669.

Baker Hughes

This means that so far this year, Baker Hughes estimates a loss of more than 100 active drilling rigs. This week's count is also 406 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic. In terms of detail, oil rigs fell by 7 to 530, down by 91 so far in 2023.

Gas rigs dropped by 2, to 131, a loss of 25 active gas rigs from the start of the year. That gives a total of 9 down but included in this calculation are miscellaneous rigs that gained 3 rigs, which gives that total drop from last week.