What's on the agenda?
PMIs and UK retail sales take the stage for today's session. We are risk off at the start and I will do a quick run down on major markets for my next post. For now, here are the main scheduled economic events.
0700GMT UK retail sales for December.
Lockdowns kicked in for December, but Christmas sales could have been a boost helping offset them a little. However, note that ONS reckoned lockdowns brought some christmas spending forward, so a holiday boost may not be seen in the data. Prior report here.
0815 France PMI
Christine Lagarde gave a more optimistic note yesterday that the worst was behind for the eurozone. PMI data for January will be another assessment for the European mood music.
0830 German PMI
Germany is the powerhouse of the eurozone and as goes Germany, so goes Europe. A negative print here and we can expect some euro weakness
0900 Eurozone PMI
Usually by now the tone is set from the French and German release. Remember that these PMI results are mainly based on surveys and are good for gauging sentiment rather than being 'hard' data. Not that important in the big scheme of things right now as vaccination programs take centre stage and getting Europe moving again.
0930 UK PMI data
UK with their January PMI release. Remember that UK vaccinations are progressing much faster than the rest of Europe, so could see this being a boost for the GBP if that continues.
