Household spending may be about to pick up after stagnating for three straight months as employment and incomes climb and the weather turns more seasonable, giving the U.S. economy a lift.

European governments prodded Spain to make deeper budget cuts in a first test of stiffer fiscal rules designed to prevent the region’s debt crisis from flaring back up.

Australian home-loan approvals fell in January at twice the pace economists forecast, the first drop in 10 months, as employment growth in the nation’s mining-driven economy stagnates.

The Federal Reserve’s extension of the average maturity of its holdings is comparable to its two rounds of asset purchases in lowering borrowing costs, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Euro-area finance ministers seeking to step past the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history will attempt to gain a foothold this week as they grapple with implementing the latest Greek bailout.

Indian inflation, the fastest among the biggest emerging markets, is poised to accelerate as oil costs rise for a nation that depends on imports for 80 percent of its energy requirements, interest-rate swaps show.

China’s economic growth slowed in the first two months of the year, with both exports and domestic demand moderating faster than analysts had forecast, building the case for Premier Wen Jiabao to accelerate stimulus measures. The world’s second-largest economy had the biggest trade deficit last month in at least 22 years, the weakest January- February factory-production gain since 2009 and retail sales below the median economist estimate, government data showed March 9 and 10. Inflation and lending growth also slowed, leaving Wen with more scope to loosen credit.

Gold rebounded from a five-week low amid renewed optimism that Greece will be able to tame its debt crisis and as a report showed increased U.S. hiring.

Gold for immediate delivery traded little changed at $1,685.13 an ounce at 10:21 a.m. Melbourne time, while bullion for April delivery in New York was also little changed at $1,685.50 an ounce.

Japan’s increased reliance on imported energy in the wake of the nation’s nuclear disaster a year ago propelled a record current-account deficit that threatens to restrain a rebound in the nation’s economy.

Employment gains in the U.S. have been understated since the middle of 2010, showing the expansion is in a better position to withstand headwinds such as rising gasoline prices.

China may report tomorrow the slowest inflation in 19 months and industrial-production growth near a two-year low, increasing odds the government will step up efforts to stimulate the economy.

Brazil’s central bank surprised analysts by accelerating the pace of interest rate cuts, bringing borrowing costs below 10 percent for only the second time on record as it seeks to revive growth.

Societe Generale SA (GLE), France’s second-biggest bank, Assicurazioni Generali SpA and UniCredit SpA (UCG) joined firms saying they would participate in Greece’s debt swap as the country threatened to compel holdouts to take part.

Brazil’s economy last year registered its second-worst performance since 2003 as higher borrowing costs and a currency that rallied to a 12-year high led it to underperform emerging-market peers China and India.