PMI data start the week, with focus turning to US jobs and BoE

This week’s calendar has some important events and economic data releases. PMI data from across the globe will be watched, while the Bank of England policy decision will attract market attention. The highlight of the week will be the US jobs report.

The US non-farm payrolls out on Friday will be important for The Federal Reserve, whose direction of future rate hikes depends alot on economic data, including a healthy US labor market. December’s jobs report showed a 292k rise in non-farm payroll employment, well above expectations and the unemployment rate remained at 5.0%. A strong January report will rekindle appetite for further rate hikes in 2016 while soft numbers will inevitably see the Fed slow down its rate hikes.

Other data out of the US include final PMI data which are released on Monday for manufacturing and Wednesday for services. According to a flash estimate, growth in the US economy slowed at the start of the year, with the Markit PMI Composite Output Index the lowest since December 2014. If the weakness in the data persists, the Fed may postpone the next rate hike. Trade data and factory orders numbers will also be important in ascertaining how the US economy is coping with global economic headwinds.

The Bank of England holds its monthly policy meeting on Thursday. The BoE seems a long way off from starting to raise interest rates. This is partly due to persistently low inflation in the UK. Therefore it is widely expected that the Bank will leave interest rates at their historic lows.

Another central bank meeting takes place on Tuesday – the Reserve Bank of Australia will announce its latest monetary policy decision.

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