It may not quite stop the nation, but the Reserve Bank of Australia's monthly policy meeting will draw a lot of interest on Melbourne Cup Day because of the recently shortened odds that the central bank will cut the cash rate by another 25 basis points to 1.75 per cent.
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Interest rate swaps pricing shows there is a 44 per cent chance of the cut, compared with 28 per cent before last Wednesday's third-quarter inflation data came in lower than expected.
The same market puts the possibility of a December cash rate cut – the third this year – at 80 per cent.
The split between Australian-based economists surveyed by Bloomberg is closely aligned to the market as 12 out of 29 – or 41.4 per cent – predict a cut on Tuesday.
HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham switched his call after the surprisingly weak consumer price index reading on Wednesday. He is also a member of the so-called RBA shadow board run by the Australian National University's Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis.
Although admitting the decision would be close, he argued that the drop in core CPI to just above the bottom of the RBA's target range reflected an economy in need of stimulus.
"One of the messages your can take from the latest [CPI] number is that we have insufficient demand relative to supply, and so the question is, does the RBA feel like it needs to provide just a bit more support for demand?
"It's a very close call, and we shouldn't be surprised if the RBA does hold steady on Tuesday, but, on balance, the low inflation print pushes the argument towards a cut rather than a hold."
Until Tuesday's decision, the Australian equity market would take cues from last Friday's close on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 0.5 per cent, taking a little of the shine off the best monthly increase seen on Wall Street since October 2011.
The S&P/ASX 200 SPI futures contract shows the Australian market opening about 0.5 per cent lower on Monday.
However, Sunday's slightly worse than expected manufacturing purchasing managers' index from China may weigh further on sentiment.
Other September domestic data releases this week include dwelling approvals, which are expected to show an improvement on the slowdown in August; and retail sales, which analysts expect to be healthy compared with August but below trend when measured year-on-year.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens is scheduled to speak at the Melbourne Institute's economic and social outlook conference on Thursday, a day before the central banks releases its November statement on monetary policy.
Either event could influence currency, share and bond markets, although the latter will be monitored for any downgrades on the growth or inflation outlook.
Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the near-term inflation forecasts might be trimmed after Wednesday's surprise reading, but the growth outlook was unlikely to change.
"The one big change which may prompt a major downward revision to growth would be an anticipated impact from the recent independent increase in bank mortgage rates," he said.
"[However], because most borrowers are ahead on repayments, the cash-flow effect of the banks' increase will be muted."
In the US, the focus will be on non-farm payrolls for October, which are due early on Thursday, and a series of purchasing managers' indices.
After surprisingly weak job growth in September, economists will be looking for some recovery.
On Friday, the official US unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 5.1 per cent, although some pundits forecast a drop to 5 per cent.
The US Federal Reserve monitors jobs data in its policy deliberations and there are growing expectations it will be relaxed enough about employment trends to lift interest rates for the first time in almost a decade at its December policy meeting.
