Nevertheless, even if Britain escapes another quarter of contraction, the QE train seems unstoppable.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, monthly indicator to value the unemployment insurance that was filed on the last week, is predicted to drop down from 377K to 373K this week.

In the US, The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI); Monthly Managers Survey to value the business conditions such as new orders, deliveries and inventories, rise is expected from 53.9 points on December up to 54.6 points now. And on the ISM Manufacturing Prices similar rise is forecasted from 47.5 points to 49.5 points.

In the US, Personal Spending, monthly value of all consumer’s inflation-adjusted, is about to rise by 0.1% up to 0.2%. And similar rise is predicted in the Personal Income of 0.3% up to 0.4%.

The dollar weakened against most major currencies following Bernanke’s announcement that  interest rates will likely remain near zero until late 2014. This was despite solid economic data coming out of the US.

Last week The Bank of Japan maintained its interest rate at 0-0.10% and did not alter its 55 trillion yen quantitative easing program announcing that Japan’s economic growth is flat amid a slowdown in foreign markets. However Retail sales climbed 2.5% better than predicted following 2.2% fall in the previous month indicating some improvement in the market. Will this week bring more encouraging news?

In the US, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting Minutes, Planned 8 times per year, full record of the latest FOMC’s meeting and shows the influential financial conditions on the interest rates.

The UK economy grew by 0.6% in Q3, which was surprisingly good news. Other indicators point to a more troubling picture for 2012, such as the current deficit, which has ballooned to 15.2 billion pounds.   Recently, the British pound managed to distance itself from the debt crisis affecting Europe. The movements in GBP/USD were still correlated with those made by EUR/USD, but the euro lost much more ground against the dollar. This has resulted in a big drop in EUR/GBP that reached levels seen only at the beginning of the year.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, weekly report for the new unemployment insurance, due to rise from 364K up to 372K.

Last week Japan’s central bank released its monetary policy statement announcing the continuation of the current easy monetary policy in light of the growing concerns over European debt problems and the strong yen. The BOJ decided to leave its key interest rate near zero and continue to provide liquidity to the markets through government bonds. Will the Japanese economy improve in 2012?