While waiting for South Africa's rates decision later in the week, China kicked off the data releases on Monday with figures showing that the world's number two economy slowed in the second quarter. As the week rolls on, corporate earnings reports in the US and developments related to Europe's debt crisis will keep economists and investors on their toes. Here is your guide.
South Africa
On Thursday, attention will turn to the South African Reserve Bank for its rates announcement. All 22 economists responding to a recent Reuters poll expect governor Gill Marcus and her colleagues on the bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) to leave South Africa's benchmark repo rate on hold at 5%, a four-decade low.
Most economists believe that the MPC will leave rates on hold for the remainder of the year as officials balance inflation risks – resulting primarily from a weakened local currency – against lacklustre growth prospects for the continent's largest economy.
Beyond these two monetary policy decisions, highlights of this week's data calendar include June inflation readings from Nigeria on Tuesday and retail sales figures from South Africa on Wednesday. Elsewhere on the continent, consumer price index (CPI) figures are expected from Angola and Zimbabwe and Tanzania will report gross domestic product (GDP).
United States
Last month's retail sales figures will be released on Monday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the data to show that purchases grew 0.8% in June, up from 0.6% in May and the biggest advance in four months. Retail sales less autos and petrol likely rose 0.3%, the same rate of increase observed in May.
On Tuesday, attention will turn to June's CPI and industrial production data. Consensus is that consumer inflation rose by 0.4% in June, up from a mere 0.1% in May. Core CPI – excluding food and energy – likely increased 0.2%, the same rate of increase observed in the previous month. Economists expect industrial production data to show that output rose 0.2% in June after remaining unchanged in May and declining 0.4% in April.
Wednesday's housing starts data is likely to show that the pace of new construction rose to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 951 000 units in June, up from 914 000 in May. The number of permits issued – an indicator of future construction – likely also rose.
Thursday's weekly jobless claims figures and an influential manufacturing gauge from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will close out the week's economic data calendar.
Beyond this week's economic indicator releases, second quarter earnings season will get into full swing this week. About 70 of the S&P 500's companies will report results. Big names on the list include Bank of America, Citigroup, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley and Verizon.
Europe
This week's European data calendar is extremely light, so markets will have little to distract from worries that escalating political turmoil in Portugal may bring about early elections, jeopardising vital external financing.
Yields on Portugal's benchmark 10-year bond surged to a seven-month high of 7.27% on Friday after Antonio Jose Seguro – leader of the opposition socialists – called for a renegotiation of the country's bailout deal.
Portugal agreed to institute a series of structural reforms, tax rises and spending cuts in exchange for a €78-billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) in May 2011.
The socially and economically wrenching "adjustment programme" – which is scheduled to run until June 2014 – is widely blamed in Portugal for exacerbating the country's three-year recession.
Seguro's comments are the latest in a series of political developments over the past fortnight that have cast doubt on the viability of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's coalition government.
Portugal's 2013 financing needs are already covered, but the country has begun to pre-finance its 2014 funding requirements. The country is expected to issue a total of €8-billion of treasury bills during the second half of the year and will return to regular bond issuance "if market conditions are conducive."
Outside of Portugal, the only two major releases on the continent's economic calendar are the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)'s release of economic sentiment gauges for Germany and the euro zone as a whole on Tuesday. Economists expect both measures to show improvement from last month.
Finally, markets in the United Kingdom will be scouring the release of the Bank of England's latest meeting minutes on Wednesday. The July 4 meeting was the first chaired by new Governor Mark Carney.
Asia
China – the world's number two economy – released second quarter growth figures on Monday. The data showed that gross domestic product (GDP) rose 7.5% in the April to June period, down from 7.7% growth during the first three months of the year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last week that it expects 7.8% growth this year, but others are not as optimistic. Goldman Sachs and Barclays, for example, anticipate 7.4% growth in 2013. If the more pessimistic estimates are correct, they would mark the slowest pace of growth for the country since 1990. China's official 2013 growth target is 7.5%.
In addition to this morning's GDP data, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported June industrial production figures, retail sales and urban fixed asset investment numbers.
China's industrial production rose 8.9% last month from a year earlier, down from 9.2% in May and below economists' expectations for a 9.1% rise. Retail sales grew by 13.3% on an annual basis, up from 12.9% in May and above consensus expectations for a 12.9% rise. Fixed asset investment increased by 20.1% in the six months to June from a year earlier, down from a 20.4% rise during the first five months of the year.
As a whole, China's numbers confirmed economists' expectations that the country's economy is slowing and at risk of further weakening as officials tighten credit in an attempt to reduce the risk of a financial crisis developing.
Africa
The Banco de Moçambique – Mozambique's central bank – is expected to announce its July rates decisions on Monday. Policymakers unexpectedly cut the bank's standing lending facility by 50-basis points to 9.0% in June. With price pressures rising, officials are unlikely to do so again this month.
Inflation is expected to increase towards the latter part of 2013 – mainly due to exceptionally low inflation recorded during the same period in 2012 – but also, in part, because of the central bank's June rate cut.
According to data from Mozambique's national statistics agency – the Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE) – CPI inflation averaged 4.29%, year on year, through June. It is likely to average 6% for 2013 as a whole.
Matt Quigley writes the Mail & Guardian's weekly economic preview. You can follow him on Twitter at @mattquigley.