1. UK CBI Industrial Trends
2. New Zealand GDP

UK CBI Industrial Trends (MAR) (11:00 GMT, 6:00 EST)
Consensus:   n/a
Previous:       -18

Consensus: No official estimates have yet been made regarding the Confederation of British Industry's Industrial Trends survey. However, an assessment of other recently released industrial data suggests that the report will improve once again for March although perhaps not at the strong clip as February's log.  The United Kingdom's manufacturing sector got off to a better start this year in comparison to the end of 2005 as January's industrial production volume improved by 0.4%.  Significant gains have been made thus far in 2006 in machinery and equipment production.  Producers have also been gaining pricing power as average factory gate prices began to rise sharply in the opening months of the year.  While such improvement bodes well for the sector, manufacturers cannot rely on domestic demand alone if the economy as a whole is to rebound on the helms of industrial output.  Export orders have been idle since last year's industrial slowdown.  If manufacturers hope to spring back, they will need to realize intense acceleration in new foreign orders.       

Previous: According to the CBI survey, 18% of manufacturers found their books to have more orders than usual in February while 36% reported fewer orders than usual, resulting in a survey balance of -18.  This suggests that British manufacturers are coming off of their best month since roughly the same time a year ago.  In the past six months, the CBI report has averaged a reading of 26 and February's relatively strong reading was a drastic improvement from January's register of -26.  The larger number of new orders in February is a reflection of successful marketing activities and growing domestic demand.  In spite of the gush in new order activity, however, manufacturer margins were tight as high energy costs threw a damper on profits.  Additionally, steel, aluminum, chemical and plastic prices were relatively high in February.  To combat the crippling input costs, British producers continue heavy operational restructuring and are holding off on increasing employment levels. 

New Zealand GDP (QoQ)(4Q) ( 22:45 GMT, 17:45 EST)
Consensus:   0.2%
Previous:       0.2%

Consensus: Predicting that the nation's economic state did not improve from the third quarter, economists expect New Zealand's fourth quarter GDP to have grown at a rate of 0.2%.  Supporting this estimation is worsening consumer and business confidence as well as poor labor market performance.  Both consumers and businesses are exhibiting levels of optimism that are at their lowest points in half a decade.  On the consumer front, this has translated into meager purchasing of durable items.  For businesses, this has meant less hiring and scanty capital investment.  In the fourth quarter, employment fell by 1,000, representing the first time in three years that companies have cut jobs on a quarterly basis.  Evidently, the Reserve Bank's plan to raise interest rates to a point that curbs spending has come to fruition. Some might argue, therefore, that the tightening since 2004 has reached its end and interest rates must begin to proceed in the opposite direction.  Governor Alan Bollard, however, has maintained that interest rates will not be cut until domestic expenditures slow to a point that the Bank deems sufficient.  In spite of Bollard's steadfastness, New Zealand's dollar has been performing poorly of late on expectations that interest rates are slated for a round of slashing. 

Previous: Growth in New Zealand's economy slowed to a pace far worse than expected in the third quarter of 2005.  The country's GDP grew at a rate of 0.2% from July to September.  Such a pace of expansion was shoddy in comparison to the previous quarter's growth of 1.2% and fell far short of Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard's expected 0.8%.  The economic slowdown resulted from unfavorable trade imbalances and extremely weak consumer confidence.  Exports, which account for 30% of New Zealand's economy, shrunk 1.5% over the quarter.  More notably, foreign shipments of milk, butter and cheese fell by 12%, which delivered a massive blow to the agriculturally-based economy.  Imports on the other hand, swelled by 2.4% on heavy purchasing of aircraft, automobiles, and machinery.  Trade may very well have been affected by the formidable gains the New Zealand dollar made against some of its largest trading partners in July and August.  Damaging growth even further in the third quarter was a slump in consumer confidence to the lowest point in five years.  New Zealand's housing market took the biggest hit from the loss in assurance as home building tumbled 5.7%. As consumers become more wary of economic stagnation, the country's housing market will continue to suffer. 

Richard Lee is a Currency Strategist at FXCM.