ChainThink reports that on March 15, the conflict among the U.S., Iran, and Israel entered its third week, as ongoing turmoil in energy commodities markets is escalating into a major issue. In short, rising oil prices mean higher inflation, which erodes corporate profitability and ultimately forces markets into a struggle. Next week, seven central banks will announce their interest rate decisions, leaving markets to navigate through significant uncertainty.
The market is most focused on the Federal Reserve:
Thursday at 02:00, the Federal Reserve FOMC releases its interest rate decision and Summary of Economic Projections;
Thursday at 02:30, Fed Chair Powell holds a monetary policy press conference.
The market generally expects Fed policymakers to hold rates steady at next week’s meeting. Recent developments in the macroeconomic landscape have completely reshaped the Fed’s interest rate outlook. Thursday’s meeting will be Powell’s second-to-last, so a balanced and cautious tone is anticipated to dominate. Nevertheless, all eyes will be on the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) and the dot plot, as expectations for two rate cuts have weakened following the recent surge in oil prices.
Additionally, on Tuesday at 11:30, the Reserve Bank of Australia will announce its interest rate decision; on Wednesday at 21:45, the Bank of Canada will announce its interest rate decision; on Thursday, the Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision (time pending); on Thursday at 16:30, the Swiss National Bank will announce its interest rate decision; on Thursday at 20:00, the Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision and meeting minutes; on Thursday at 21:15, the European Central Bank will announce its interest rate decision.
The interest rate decisions of the above major global economies will also have unpredictable effects on the flow of market funds.
Important economic data to be released next week includes:
Monday, 21:15, U.S. February Industrial Production Monthly Rate;
Wednesday, 04:30, U.S. API Crude Oil Inventories for the week ending March 13;
Wednesday, 20:30: U.S. February PPI Year-over-Year, U.S. February PPI Month-over-Month;
Thursday, 20:30: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending March 14; U.S. Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for March;
Dense releases of economic data from the U.S. and Europe are upcoming, with particular market focus on the U.S. February Producer Price Index (PPI), the final Q2 Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Eurozone, the number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 14, and the March Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index. These indicators will further shed light on inflation transmission channels, labor market resilience, and the strength of manufacturing recovery, significantly influencing expectations for Federal Reserve and European Central Bank policy decisions and global asset pricing.
Finally, the NVIDIA GTC 2026 conference will be held in San Jose, California, from March 16 to 19:
This is the most anticipated annual event in the AI field. The conference centers on Jensen Huang’s opening keynote, which is expected to cover comprehensive updates across the AI stack—including chips, software, models, and applications—with themes focused on Physical AI, Agentic AI, AI Factories, inference, and accelerated computing. The market eagerly anticipates Huang’s anticipated announcement of a “world-shattering new chip,” potentially featuring a novel architecture optimized for inference and agentic AI, such as a possible LPU (Language Processing Unit) or a low-power inference chip in the style of Groq, designed to address bottlenecks in token costs, ROI, and energy efficiency.