Look ahead: UK Gfk consumer confidence; China retail sales; manufacturing and services PMI
UK consumer confidence swings into focus a day after the Bank of England kept rates steady at 5.25% and suggested that cuts are unlikely soon.
The consumer theme continues with China’s latest retail sales print. Plus, look out for manufacturing and services PMIs from the eurozone, the UK and the US.
(Partial video transcript)
UK Gfk consumer confidence figures
Angeline Ong: We start with the United Kingdom, where we've got Gfk consumer confidence figures, expectations for December -22. And all this will be really interesting given we've just had the Bank of England saying that it will hold interest rates at 5.25% as expected and suggested that cuts are unlikely soon.
China's industrial production and retail sales figures
Also watching out for China because we've got industrial production figures out of there. But probably what's more key are the retail sales figure. All these concerns that China is starting to have more and more data points pointing to deflation. So consumption, anything to do with retail sales and then consumer will be pounced on by traders. Also look out for fixed asset investment from the eurozone, the UK and the US.
Central banks' interest rate decisions unfold
Friday we finish off with a bang, with December manufacturing and services PMIs from all three of those places. European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged as expected on Thursday as well and signaled an early end to its last remaining bond purchase scheme. Now this comes as the Bank of England also stood pat on interest rates. Just looking at the dollar here because this has a central bank bearing as well. We had the Fed coming out saying that it was going to cut rates in 2024. And this, of course, weighed on the dollar.
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