Global Week Ahead

Latest edition · August 31, 2026

Global Week Ahead August 31 – September 6

Goldman Sachs presents its economics teams' weekly preview of central bank policy rate decisions and major global economic data releases for August 31 to September 6, 2026. The firm highlights out-of-consensus views, including softer US nonfarm payrolls, stronger US average hourly earnings, and divergent rate decisions in Kazakhstan and Israel.

In this edition of Global Week Ahead for August 31 – September 6, 2026, Goldman Sachs outlines key central bank decisions and economic releases across DM and EM economies. The economics team is more dovish than consensus on the National Bank of Kazakhstan (forecasting 16.0% vs. 16.5% consensus) and more hawkish on the Bank of Israel (3.5% vs. 3.25%). For major data prints, GS expects US nonfarm payrolls to print below consensus at 40k (vs. 55k consensus), US Average Hourly Earnings MoM to surprise to the upside at 0.4%, India 2Q GDP to outperform at 7.5% YoY, and Australia 2Q GDP QoQ to stall at 0.0% vs. 0.3% consensus.

Key takeaways from the latest edition

• 1.Central banks in New Zealand, Malaysia, Israel, Canada, and Kazakhstan meet this week; GS is more dovish than consensus in Kazakhstan (16.0% vs. 16.5%) and more hawkish in Israel (3.5% vs. 3.25%).
• 2.GS forecasts for major global economic releases are stronger than consensus on India GDP YoY (7.5% vs. 7.3%) and weaker on US Nonfarm Payrolls MoM (40.0k vs. 55.0k) and China NBS Mfg. PMI (49.4 vs. 49.5).
• 3.The most significant out-of-consensus indicator forecasts include being well above consensus on US Average Hourly Earnings MoM (0.4% vs. 0.3%) and well below consensus on Australia GDP QoQ (0.0% vs. 0.3%) and Colombia Current Account Balance (-$4400bn vs. -$3500bn).

What this series covers

• Global Week Ahead: August 31 – September 6
• Exhibit 1: Central Bank Policy Decisions
• Exhibit 2: Selected Global Indicators
• Exhibit 3: Most Out-of-Consensus Indicator Forecasts
• Exhibit 4: This Week's Data Releases and Forecasts
• Methodological Notes
• Disclosure Appendix

Edition archive

• Global Week Ahead August 31 – September 6

  August 31, 2026

• Global Week Ahead August 3 – August 9

  August 2, 2026

• Global Week Ahead July 27 - August 2

  July 26, 2026

• Global Week Ahead: June 22 – June 28

  June 21, 2026

• Global Week Ahead: June 15 - June 21

  June 14, 2026

• Global Week Ahead May 25 - May 31

  May 26, 2026