A notable week in the markets, with the release of a number of key central bank and economic releases ahead. In the US, the focus will largely be upon the job report, due on Friday. Meanwhile in the UK, the services PMI figure on Monday gives us an idea as to the condition of the crucial sector driving the UK economy. Over in the eurozone, the German court ruling with regards to the constitutionality of the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions policy is going to be key.
In Asia, the focus is again on China, with the inflation data providing one of the most notable releases on Thursday morning. Finally, in Oceania, the Australian trade balance data is going to be key in gauging how the shifting economic environment is affecting their key export market.
[B]US[/B]
A particularly busy week ahead for the US, where the usual furore surrounding the latest jobs data is also accompanied by the Fed chairperson nomination vote and FOMC minutes from December.
US jobs data releases are always hugely significant for global markets and this is reflected by the volatility seen around the non-farm payrolls in particular. However, in recent years employment figures have taken on an even more dominant role for investors given the association derived between the health of the employment market and the degree of asset purchases in place. Following the taper seen in December, the focus will now be upon when the FOMC will further trim the QE programme, with the next meetings in January, March and April.
The first notable employment release of the week comes on Wednesday when the ADP non-farm payroll figure is released. This measure has widely been seen as a proxy for the official government release on Friday. However the lack of public sector jobs within the calculation, amongst other differences mean that often the reality is that both measures are very different. Thus whilst this figure may not accurately reflect what we are likely to see on Friday, this is still a key data point and thus well worth watching out for. Markets expect to see the December figure show a fall to around 199k from 215k seen back in November.
On Friday, the big ticket release of the week comes with the jobs report in the afternoon. The non-farm payroll figure has often been seen as the major instigator of volatility owing to the fact that it is more unpredictable and spiky than the headline unemployment rate. The past two releases came in above the 200k mark, and this threshold can be seen as a good indicator of whether the figures are maintaining the positive trajectory seen in the lead-up to the December taper or not. Market expectation is for a fall to 194k in December, down from 203k in November.
The unemployment rate has always been a key release as it is this which typically takes the major headlines. However, with the forward guidance element of Fed policy specifically taking it’s lead from this measure, markets are paying especially close attention to it’s movement. Previous stipulation from the Fed was that upon reaching 6.5%, they were likely to discuss raising interest rates. However, this timeline has been extended somewhat with Bernanke’s statement that rates will remain at current low levels until “well after” 6.5%. The markets are expecting to see little movement from the current 7% level on Friday, however, even if this is the case, it is worth also noting any change in the participation rate. The rate finally rose for the first time in five months in November and the ability to prove that this is not just a one off would be a very positive sign for the direction of the jobs market.
On Monday, we are due to hear from the Fed following the vote with regards to appointing the next chairperson. I say chairperson as this is in all likeliness going to be the first female appointment to the position in its 100 year history. This is not necessarily going to move markets should we see Janet Yellen be nominated, which seems somewhat of a foregone conclusion. However should the vote come back as a no for her nomination, it could throw a spanner into the works somewhat.
Finally, the minutes from the last FOMC meeting are released on Wednesday. This meeting was the platform for the first taper of the current asset purchase scheme and thus the outlook of the committee to further cut in the forthcoming meeting is now key. Watch out for signs of how receptive the members are to another taper this month and possible prerequisites for such happening.
[B]UK[/B]
A somewhat mixed week for the UK economy, which typically has a very busy first week of the month. Given the fact that only some of those events have been shifted back by a week, there is somewhat of a lessened load ahead. The two most notable events of the week come in the form of the services PMI figure and the latest monetary policy decision from the BoE.
On Monday, the business surveyor Markit are due to release their services PMI survey for December, following the manufacturing and construction figures released the week gone. Despite the importance of those two industries, it is the services sector which drives the UK economy, with the reliance upon the likes of law, insurance and financial services in particular. On the whole, 2013 has been a particularly strong year for the UK services sector, with the PMI reading beating expectations on 9 of the 11 months whilst remaining in expansion throughout the whole of 2013. This positive trend is expected to have continued in December, with the forecasters expecting to see a further rise to 60.7, following a reading of 60.0 in November. This would still represent a particularly strong figure, coming off the back of the highest reading in 16 years seen in October. However, I would be careful, given the fact that we have seen a downturn in both the manufacturing and construction PMIs for December, this could disappoint somewhat if it followed the same pattern.
Later in the week, the BoE are due to announce their latest monetary policy decision on Thursday. There is little expectation that we are going to see any tangible change to the current stance, given that the forward guidance policy has been laid out and reiterated by Mark Carney. Thus it is likely to be the case that traders are looking for anything new out of the accompanying statement or Q&A to move the markets.
[B]Eurozone[/B]
A somewhat busy week for the eurozone region, with two major events taking centre stage in the form of the German constitutional court hearing along with the ECB rate decision. The first of these is a somewhat less regular occurrence than the latter, with the German Federal Constitutional Court due to announce their final ruling with regards to the whether they see the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions policy (OMT) as constitutional under German law.
The OMT programme from the ECB has been widely perceived as one of the key confidence backstops for beleaguered nations, serving to reduce the yields of sovereign bonds. This in turn lowers the likeliness of further crises driven by reduced liquidity at reasonable rates for the peripheral and indebted eurozone nations. The issue is that for some, the OMT system of promising to buy ‘unlimited’ bonds from stricken economies serves to defeat the purpose of bond yields, which traditionally are seen as a gauge to the quality of the issuer. The ability to artificially instill confidence regardless of the risk profile attached to the underlying instrument allows for somewhat misguided belief that austerity measures such as those seen throughout numerous nations may not be necessary as long as cheap credit is freely available.
Ultimately, the OMT programme is unlikely to ever be used, especially given the recent resurgent strength seen in some of the peripheral nations as signified by the recent decision from the EU to remove the credit line for Spanish banks. However, should the German courts manage threaten it’s existence, this could serve to throw some of the more fragile economies back into crisis where investor confidence is shaken. If the German courts decide that the OMT programme is unconstitutional, this could be a somewhat unnecessary kick in the teeth for the eurozone recovery.
On Thursday, the ECB will announce their latest monetary policy statement, with a similar feeling to the BoE in that we are unlikely to see much in the way of actual policy amendments. Mario Draghi et al decided to shock the markets somewhat back in November when they decided to cut rates following a worrying fall in the eurozone inflation rate. Since then the worries of deflation have subsided considerably and thus we are likely to return to the status quo where Draghi uses these meetings to talk down the value of the euro with mentions of negative rates and alike. Thus be aware of possible volatility in the session following the immediate announcement regardless of whether there is a shift in rates or not.
[B]Asia & Oceania[/B]
Much of the action out of Asia this week comes from China, where the inflation and trade balance releases are likely to be the only potential market moving events of note. The CPI measure of inflation is released on Thursday where markets are hoping to see a shift lower, from last month’s reading of 3% towards somewhere closer to 2.8%. Bear in mind that the Chinese central bank (PBOC) has been propping up the economy throughout somewhat tough times in 2013. Thus should the inflation rate move towards their target of 3.5% for the year, it would somewhat limit their capacity to engage in further stimulus in 2014. Therefore a cooling in the inflation rate seen within the region would likely mean we could see higher growth in the forthcoming period owing to flexible PBOC intervention when required.
On Wednesday, the trade balance figure will be watched closely to see how imports and exports have fared in December. The importance of their export growth should not be understated despite the planned shift towards domestic growth. Much of the growth seen throughout the final months of 2013 has been driven by a return of their export markets and thus we will be looking for a continuation of this trend.
In Australia, the trade balance is also likely to be key, with a similar story to China. The Australian story is largely intertwined with the Chinese, given the impact the perceived slowdown in China had upon the Australian economy in the middle of this year. In some ways this slowdown contributed to the election of a new Prime Minister in Tony Abbott. However, as the Chinese economy has picked up, so have Australian hopes of a return to health for their economy. Close attention will be paid to exports, given the Australian focus upon commodity exports as a means of growth. The past two releases have shown 0% growth in exports and thus there is a dire need to see this figure pick up in this month’s announcement to show that Australia is benefiting from improved Chinese growth and the reduced value of the Australian dollar.