We are back to worrying about inflation and interest rates!
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce its decision on interest rates early Thursday morning (sometime Wednesday in the US), and then right after that, we’ll get the Consumer Price Index report for April from the Philippine Statistics Authority on Friday.
Between now and then, we’ll probably get some interesting information out of the analyst briefings for Union Bank, Aboitiz Power], and Aboitiz Equity Ventures on Tuesday, from BPI and Cebu Landmasters on Wednesday, and from ACEN, Semirara Mining and Power, AllHome, and PLDT on Thursday.
Ayala Land and Cebu Pacific go on Friday.
MB BOTTOM-LINE
The BSP has already basically said that it’s too dangerous to not “follow the Fed” right now, so what the Fed does on Thursday will probably be what the BSP does on May 18 when it finally meets to decide our own interest rate fate, unless we get some absolutely bonkers result from the April CPI data on Friday.
At the end of the day, core inflation is still going up, people are still feeling the squeeze, and the government seems sensitive (again) to the USD/PHP exchange rate, so the conditions don’t feel right for the BSP to suddenly go rogue and pivot.
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