The week ends with a massive flood of important economic reports from around the world.
First off, we received the Caixin composite and services PMIs for November from China. Both numbers were slightly lower than the previous month’s, coming in at 51.2 and 52.1, respectively.
In the European Union there were PMIs from Italy, Spain, and Germany. The former two did quite well in November, but Germany disappointed investors, with the composite and services PMIs both missing the forecast.
The eurozone-wide Markit composite PMI also failed to meet investors’ expectations, coming in at 55.4. However, retail sales in the eurozone in October were higher than anticipated.
But the biggest releases of the day (and arguably the whole week) have to do with employment in North America.
Canada will publish its unemployment rate and employment change reports for November today, along with some wage data.
At the same time, the United States will deliver the highly important non-farm payrolls report, also for November, together with average earnings data. We also expect the ISM non-manufacturing PMI from the US today.
The crude oil market today is also abuzz after the somewhat surprising conclusion of this month’s OPEC+ meeting. Many had expected that the cartel would hold off any future quota increases for now, in light of the new coronavirus variant and the prospect of further lockdowns around the world, which always cause a drop in the demand for oil.
However, OPEC and its allies decided to move ahead with the planned bump of 400,000 barrels per day in January, which initially depressed oil prices further. But today the cartel added that it would decrease supply quickly if it sees demand dropping, particularly in the context of the pandemic.
Speaking of which, the coronavirus variant Omicron remains one of the chief interests of market participants. Though it is thought to be less deadly than Delta, it is proving to be far more contagious and is reportedly affecting even young children, unlike the previous variants that circulated.
US stock indices today will trade lower, both due to concerns over Omicron, as well as in anticipation of the November NFPs from the United States.
