There are several important events on the economic calendar today.
First off, the United Kingdom is publishing some labor market data. The employment change report for May was better than expected, coming in at 95K against a forecast of 75K. The unemployment rate also surprisingly dropped to 4.7% in June when the forecast was 4.8%.
In Europe, there were GDP growth rate reports for the second quarter of 2021 from the Netherlands and the eurozone at large. The Netherlands, one of the richest countries in the EU, did better than expected, but the eurozone reports were disappointing.
The last important economic report of the day is the retail sales data for July from the United States. The report came in at -1.1%, which is considerably lower than the forecast.
Later today there will be speeches by the Federal Reserve’s Chair Jerome Powell, and Fed member Kashkari.
As for the stock market, today US stock indices will trade lower due to the broad pessimism among investors, which the negative retail sales data further exacerbated.
US companies to keep an eye on today include pharmaceutical firms like Moderna and Pfizer, as President Biden is expected to approve booster shots in the United States to help the country fight the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19.
Chinese stock indices are also suffering big losses today after an announcement of more regulation by the Chinese government to ensure fair competition standards, at least in theory. The new rules will hit major tech companies in China such as Alibaba and Tencent. However, the government has also decided to invest in Bytedance, the owner of TikTok.
In other news, New Zealand is entering a partial lockdown after its first Covid-19 cases in half a year was confirmed today. The island nation’s government has chosen to err on the side of caution and is anticipating more Covid-19 cases to surface in the coming days, hence the immediate lockdown order.
