China’s Role on Agenda for Central Bankers

Central bankers will assess the growing role of emerging nations such as China at their meetings in Switzerland today.

China’s red-hot economy has become a major factor in global markets as it takes in imports to manufacture cheap exports. Its rapid growth drives up the price of oil and other commodities.

Market speculation has grown intense that China will overhaul its rigid yuan currency system to integrate into the world economy. U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Washington today for discussions that will include foreign exchange.

Central bankers from rich and developing nations gathering in the Swiss border town of Basel said China, oil and slowdowns in Western countries were all on the agenda for their bimonthly Group of 10 meeting.

“We will have wide-ranging discussion on how emerging markets can be better integrated into the global economy,” Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui told Reuters on Sunday before meetings at the Bank for International Settlements.

Overshadowing the outlook are oil prices, which pushed toward $60 a barrel last month and are holding around $50.

“The economies in the United States and Europe have signs of a slowdown, due maybe to oil. We will assess this,” Fukui said.

From Reuters

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The Week Ahead

Today

* The Commerce Department reports wholesale inventories for March.

* Quarterly earnings released by Edison International.

Tuesday

* Quarterly earnings released by Cisco Systems.

Wednesday

* The Commerce Department reports the nation’s trade deficit for April.

* Quarterly earnings released by Walt Disney.

Thursday

* The Commerce Department reports retail sales for April.

* Quarterly earnings released by Wal-Mart Stores and Target.

Friday

* The University of Michigan releases its consumer sentiment index for May.