Australia will on Thursday release September figures for unemployment, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.
The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.8 percent, with the addition of 15,000 jobs following the loss of 10,800 jobs in August. The participation rate is expected to remain unchanged at 65.0 percent.
Japan will see August numbers for core machine orders and tertiary industry, as well as September data for bank lending and consumer confidence.
Machine orders are expected to rise 2.5 percent on month and 8.5 percent on year after a flat monthly reading and a 6.5 percent annual increase in July. The tertiary industry index is expected to add 0.4 percent after easing 0.4 percent in the previous month.
Bank lending including trusts was up 2.0 percent on year in August, while lending excluding trusts gained 2.3 percent. The consumer confidence index is expected to come in with a score of 43.5, up from 43.0 in August.
The Bank of Korea will conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold at 2.50 percent.
Malaysia will provide August data for industrial and manufacturing production. Industrial output is expected to ease 1.4 percent on month but gain 6.0 percent on year following the 1.9 percent monthly gain and the 7.6 percent annual increase in July. Manufacturing production was up 2.5 percent on month and 5.4 percent on year in July.
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May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.