Summary:
- UK retail sales on the agenda in the morning
- Industrial production from the US steals the show in the afternoon
- Preliminary UoM index scheduled shortly after a Wall Street’s opening bell
Friday looks quite interesting when we take a look into the economic calendar. First of all, investors will be offered UK retail sales data for January in the morning. On top of that, US industrial production data is scheduled for the early afternoon. Apart from that, preliminary UoM for February will be released shortly after a US opening bell.
9:30 am GMT - UK, Retail Sales for January: It seems the Brexit drama steals totally the show in the Great Britain, and all macroeconomic data may be seemingly less important. Although today’s data are unlikely to bring larger GBP moves, it could provide some insights concerning current economic developments in the United Kingdom. The consensus expects that a release will show an acceleration to 3.4% YoY from 3.0% YoY seen previously.
2:15 pm GMT - US, Industrial Production for January: In the afternoon all eyes could be focused on industrial data from the United States. While Brexit gathers attention in the UK, trade wars are in the spotlight in the US. Recent months in industrial sectors have been remarkably weak in many developed economies therefore today’s data could confirm or deny if the US economy began the new year with still a downbeat trend. . The market consensus suggests that industrial production growth decelerated to 0.1% MoM in January.
3:00 pm GMT - US, UoM Consumer Sentiment for February: UoM sentiment experienced a large fall last month. The mentioned trade wars and the US government shutdown undermined sentiment. What will February’s data show? It seems that some tensiones have disappeared and consumer sentiment could have bounced back being supported by the resumed bull market. The median estimate suggests that index will show a build to 93 pts.
Central bank speakers scheduled for today:
- 1:00 pm GMT - ECB’s Coeure
- 2:55 pm GMT - Fed’s Bostic
- 3:45 pm GMT - ECB’s Angeloni
Major US companies reporting earnings today:
- PepsiCo (PEP.US)
- Deere & Co (DE.US)
The EURUSD has been testing a key area between 1.127 and 1.130 in recent days. Note that the currency pair has begun Friday trading with a slight step back as the US dollar is slowly recouping its post retail sales losses. Source: xStation5
