By WSJ Staff 

The week ahead features policy decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Brazil's central bank. On the data front, home sales and business investment figures will be released in the U.S.

TUESDAY: The Federal Reserve's two-day March policy meeting begins, with the central bank expected to announce Wednesday it will raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time this year. Fed officials in recent weeks have adopted a modestly more aggressive outlook for rate rises in 2018, indicating most expect they will move at least three times and possibly more. Several cited recent tax cuts and an increase in federal spending as reasons to expect inflation and economic growth will pick up.

WEDNESDAY: Brazil's central bank is expected to cut its Selic benchmark rate to 6.5% from 6.75%, further delaying the end of an easing cycle launched in October 2016. Below-target inflation is driving the low-rate policy despite deep shortfalls in the federal budget as the economy struggles to recover from a fierce recession.

The National Association of Realtors releases its report on February existing-home sales. Sales of previously owned U.S. homes declined in January, as low inventories and rising prices and interest rates took a toll. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecast sales grew 0.4% in February to a 5.40 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.

THURSDAY: Policy makers at the European Central Bank worry that the threat of a trade conflict in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports may weaken business and consumer confidence. The first measures that could detect any such impact include IHS Markit's composite Purchasing Managers Index for the eurozone, and the Ifo survey of German business confidence. Economists expect to see the composite PMI fall to 56.7 in March, from 57.1 in February, and the Ifo measure of business expectations to fall to 104.2, from 105.4. If they're right, those outcomes would suggest the trade worries have yet to deliver a major blow to confidence.

The Bank of England releases a monetary policy decision, days after U.K. Treasury chief Philip Hammond presented new forecasts showing U.K. economic growth should be modestly higher in 2018 than predicted late last year. In February, BOE officials signaled they remain on track to lift interest rates in the coming months as they expect global growth to boost the U.K. economy, even though uncertainty over the future shape of the country's relationship with the European Union continues to weigh on activity.

FRIDAY: The U.S. Commerce Department releases February durable-goods data. Economists will be watching to see whether business investment, which fell for the second straight month in January, shows signs of picking up in the wake of tax cuts passed last year. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect durable-goods orders rose 1.5% in February.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2018 15:14 ET (19:14 GMT)