German factory orders and Eurozone retail sales on the agenda today
Happy Thursday, everyone! Hope you're all doing well as we look to get things going in the session ahead. It's a mixed start to the day with the pound still looking perky as is the loonie - owing to the BOC and oil - while the aussie is a tad lower after poor data again.
The bigger focus in markets continues to rest on risk sentiment and with that, the US-China trade rhetoric. The overall risk mood today is a little more balanced after the recovery seen in trading yesterday (from the Bloomberg report here).
However, there are many other themes dominating the landscape with pound and loonie strength among them as well as the push (data) and pull (RBA) in the aussie. Oil is also another focus area with the OPEC meetings in Vienna beginning later today.
Looking ahead, economic data won't do much to shift the dial in markets so it is still largely all about the ebb and flow for the time being.
0700 GMT - Germany October factory orders data
Prior release can be found here. Expectation is for an extended rebound from September but even so, industrial orders remain weak when viewed from a year-on-year basis. VDMA also pointed that out yesterday here. As such, the data should reaffirm soggy factory activity in the German economy in Q4 with little signs of a solid recovery for now.
0830 GMT - Germany November construction PMI
Prior release can be found here. There has been some improvement in construction activity in the past few months - owing to homebuilding - but with exports and manufacturing still on the weaker side, the data here shouldn't lend to much optimism on a recovery.
1000 GMT - Eurozone October retail sales data
Prior release can be found here. Consumption activity in the euro area has been holding up decently but nothing stellar for large parts of 2019. The data here should reaffirm that sentiment as the euro area economy is seen inching closer towards growth stagnation as we approach the final stages of the year.
1000 GMT - Eurozone Q3 final GDP figures
The secondary reading can be found here. As this is the final reading, it should just confirm what we already know i.e. sluggish growth in the region at the start of 2H 2019.
1230 GMT - US November Challenger job cuts data
Prior release can be found here. The data provides information on the number of announced corporate layoffs by industry and region and acts as a general labour market indicator.
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading!