Financial markets around the world go full steam ahead this week after two-weeks of holiday disruption. Traders will be returning to their desks in time for major economic data releases from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand so it promises to be a busy week.

This Week
The high volatility doesn’t get started until Tuesday with the Nationwide House Price Index at 07:00. The index is expected to show that house prices contracted by 1.5% in December compared to the -0.4% seen in November.

At 09:30 we will see the Services PMI for the month of December from the UK. The index currently stands below the expansion/ contraction zone registering a 40.1 in November. Economists are expecting further deterioration to 39.0 in December.

US high volatility is due at 15:00 with two releases expected. The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI probably contracted further in December to 36.8 from 37.3 one month previous. Pending Home Sales, also due at 15:00, are likely to show a 0.8% contraction for the reporting period of November. This follows on from October’s -0.7 percent.

One of the most highly anticipated events of the week is due at 19:00 with the release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes. The minutes are from the Fed’s December 16th 2008 meeting where the decision was taken to cut the Federal Funds Rate from 1.00% to 0.25%. Traders will be looking for an insight into the decision and any indication that rates may be cut further to 0.00%.

At 21:45 the New Zealand Trade Balance will be announced. The data is for the month of November and is expected to show a contraction in the trade deficit from 942M to 838M NZD.

Wednesday will be slightly quieter with two high influence economic announcements due. At 00:30 the Australian Retail Sales Trend number for November will be released. A consensus estimate is yet to be released, however we are following on from a 0.2% MoM increase in October.

At 13:15 GMT we have the first of the week’s significant employment data. ADP Non-Farm Employment Change is expected to show 450K jobs were lost in December, following on from a revised number of -472K in November.

Thursday begins with high volatility from Australia. Building Approvals and Trade Balance data are both due at 00:30. Building Approvals for November are expected to show a 1.3% decline after a fall of 5.4% in October. Australia’s trade surplus is expected to have decreased slightly in November to AUD 2.15B, down from 2.95B the month before.

Later in the day we will see the BOE Interest Rate Statement. Expectations are that the Bank will reduce the Official Bank Rate to 1.50% from 2.00%.

At 13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims will be reported. Claims are expected to rise above the 500K mark once again to 540K from the 492K seen last week.

Canada’s Ivey PMI is set to be released at 15:00. The indicator is designed to give a snapshot of the economy as a whole and it is expected to continue its deterioration to 38.0 from the 40.2 seen in November.

High volatility will hit the market in three pockets on Friday, with the first coming from the UK. Manufacturing Production and PPI Input will be released at 09:30. Manufacturing Production will be reporting for the month of November where output likely fell by 0.5% on the month after a 1.4% decline in October. PPI Input for December will probably show that wholesale inflation fell by 2.0% in December after a 3.3% drop in November.

At 12:00 Canada will release employment data for the month of December. Employment Change is expected to show that the Canadian economy shed 21.0K jobs following a loss of 70.6K in November. The Unemployment Rate is expected to climb from 6.3 to 6.5 percent.

At 13:15 Canada will release its Housing Starts numbers for December. The annualized rate of new residential constructions is expected to have increased from 172K to 175K.

At 13:30 the highly anticipated Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate numbers are due from the US. Non-Farm Employment Change is expected to show that the US lost 475K jobs in December after it shed 533K in November. The US Unemployment Rate likely grew to 7.0% from 6.7% one month previous.

At the same time Canada will release its monthly Building Permits data for November. There was a huge contraction of 15.7% in October with a further 3.7% fall expected in November.

The question on traders’ minds is whether the financial markets will continue to ignore poor economic data. Following the lack of decisive action on the back of Friday’s shockingly poor Non-Farm Employment report, it remains to be seen whether this week’s economic announcements will provide anything more than a knee-jerk price reaction seen at the time of release.

This Week
The first high volatility event of the week will be the UK’s PPI Input at 09:30 on Monday. Expectations are for a MoM decline in wholesale inflation by 2.9% in November after the -5.6% seen in October.

At 13:15 we are due to see Canadian Housing Starts for the month of November. Expectations are for an annualized number of 194K, down from the 212K reported for October.

At 14:00 (15:00 CET) ECB President Trichet is due to testify before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament. The Quarterly Hearing usually takes the form of an introductory statement followed by a Q&A session.

On Tuesday morning we will see further high volatility from RBA Governor Glenn Stevens' speech at the Australian Business Economists Annual Dinner in Sydney. The event is scheduled to begin at 09:00 UK time.

This will be closely followed by the UK’s Manufacturing Production at 09:30. Expectations are for a 0.6% contraction in output in October after a 0.8% contraction in September.

At 10:00 the German ZEW Economic Sentiment number will be released. The index improved slightly last month to -53.5. However, economists are expecting a reading of -56.5 this time around.

Tuesday will also host the first of this week’s central bank interest rate announcements. The BOC Interest Rate Statement is likely to see the Overnight Rate slashed by 0.50 percent to 1.75%.

At 15:00 the first high volatility event of the week from the US is due. Pending Home Sales for October likely fell by 3.2% after Septembers 4.6% drop.

There is only one high volatility event scheduled for Wednesday and it comes during the overnight session. Australian Home Loans data for October likely saw an increase of 1.0 percent in the number of loans granted after the 2.7% fall in September.

Thursday will be a very busy day with the high volatility beginning in the overnight session. Australian Employment Change and Unemployment Rate are due for release at 00:30. Employment Change for November likely saw a fall of 15K jobs after the Australian economy added 34.3K in October. The Unemployment Rate, as of November, is likely to have increased to 4.4% from 4.3% in the previous month.

At 08:30 the SNB will be in focus as it announces the Libor Rate, releases its quarterly Monetary Policy Assessment and the Governing Board Members hold a press conference. High volatility can be expected for each one of these events with Libor midpoint likely to be shifted to 0.50% from 1.00%.

Focus will shift to North America at 13:30 with three high volatility events scheduled. The US Trade Balance will be released with a slight moderation to $53.5B in the trade deficit expected. At the same time Initial Jobless Claims will also be released. Economists expect 530K individuals to have filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week.

At the same time, slightly overshadowed by the release from the US, the Canadian Trade Balance will also be released. The Canadian trade surplus is expected to have narrowed to CAD 3.2B from 4.5B in September.

Thursday will be rounded off by Core Retail Sales and Retail Sales from New Zealand. Core Retail Sales for October are expected to have increased by 0.8% MoM after a 0.5% decrease in September. For the same period Retail Sales were likely flat at 0.0% following on from a slight 0.1% increase a month earlier.

Friday will play host to a busy US session with some key data releases. At 13:30 Core Retail Sales, Retail Sales and the Producer Price Index will be hitting news wires. Core Retail Sales are expected to have fallen by 1.7% in November, with the headline Retail Sales number thought to have dropped by 1.9% in the same period. US PPI is also expected to fallen in November. Expectations are for a 2.0% fall in prices at the wholesale level after a similar 2.8% drop in October.

To round off the week we will see important consumer confidence data in the shape of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment number. Traders are expecting a reading of 55, relatively unchanged from last month’s final reading of 55.3.

Financial markets are preparing themselves for a wealth of economic data this week with central bank interest rate cuts and employment data in focus.

This Week
With high volatility events expected everyday this week there will be no shortage of market action. We start on Monday with the UK’s Manufacturing PMI. The index is firmly set in a state of contraction with a reading of 41.5 for October likely to worsen to 39.8 in November.

At 13:30 Canadian monthly GDP will be released. This release will reference the month of September with 0.2% monthly growth expected after a 0.3% contraction in August.

Manufacturing data is also due from the US on Monday with the release of the ISM Manufacturing PMI. Similarly to the UK, US manufacturing is in a period of contraction. The reading for November is expected to come in at 37.2, worse than the 38.9 seen in October.

Ben Bernanke will speak at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce on Monday with his speech expected to draw heavy interest and subsequent volatility. He will be the keynote speaker at the Annual Economic Forecast event organised by the Austin Chamber.

On Tuesday we will see high volatility concentrated in the overnight session with key data due from Australia. At 00:30 UK time the Retail Sales Trend figure for October is to be released. Economists are expecting 0.1% MoM growth after Septembers 0.2% increase.

We will be staying in Australia for the week’s first central bank interest rate announcement. The RBA Interest Rate Statement is expected to confirm expectations of a 0.75% cut in the Cash Rate from 5.25% to 4.50%.

On Wednesday we will see more high volatility from Australia with the quarterly GDP release. Data for the third quarter is expected to show a 0.2% growth in GDP after the 0.3% reported in Q2.

At 09:30 we will see information from another of the UK’s key industry sectors. The Services PMI for November is likely to have deteriorated to 41.2 from 42.4 in October.

This week’s key North American events are undoubtedly the employment data releases. The first of which comes from the US on Wednesday in the shape of ADP Non-Farm Employment Change. Traders are using this number as a guide to official Non-Farm Payrolls due later in the week so high volatility can be anticipated. It is expected that the US economy lost 200K jobs in November after losing 157K in October, according to ADP.

Next up for the US will be the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI at 15:00. Like its manufacturing counterpart the index is inside the contraction zone with a reading of 42.5 expected after October’s 44.4.

Wednesday will play host to more monetary policy relaxation, this time from the RBNZ. The RBNZ Interest Rate Statement and the accompanying press conference are both regarded as high volatility events. The RBNZ is expected to reduce the Official Cash Rate from 6.50 to 5.00 percent, a full one and a half point cut.

Thursday will see economic data coming thick and fast beginning in Australia. At 00:30 Building Approvals and Trade Balance are due. Building Approvals likely recovered 0.2% in October after a 7.2% slump in September. Trade Surplus is likely to remain relatively unchanged at 1.45 AUD after 1.46 AUD in September.

The Halifax House Price Index is due at 08:00 on Thursday. This index is the first to be released from the UK on the latest month’s housing market with a reading of -1.0% expected for November. In October house prices fell by 2.2% according to the Halifax Bank of Scotland.

At 12:00 we will see the BOE Interest Rate Statement. The MPC is expected to vote for a 1.00% Official Bank Rate cut to 2.00% as they look to manage the UK’s economic downturn.

Speculation is rife that the ECB will cut rates heavily on Thursday after the Flash CPI Report showed that consumer inflation had fallen to just above the ECB’s 2.0% target. Expectations are for a 0.75% cut in the Minimum Bid Rate to 2.75% when the ECB Interest Rate Announcement hits news wires at 12:45.

At 13:30 we will see high volatility announcements from three different economies. The ECB Press Conference will be closely watched as traders look for clues to future monetary policy shifts from the ECB. At the same time traders will be watching Initial Jobless Claims as a figure above 500K is expected once again. Canadian Building Permits are also due with a 6 percent decline anticipated for October.

The Canadian Ivey PMI is due at 15:00 on Thursday. The Index has managed to hold its head above the expansion/ contraction line at 50.0 until this point with economists expecting a reading of 50 dead this time around.

Further high volatility is expected with Fed Chairman Bernanke’s involvement with the President’s Conference on Homeownership and Mortgage Initiative in Washington DC at 16:15.

Friday will be dominated by employment data from North America. At 12:00 Canada will release its Employment Change and Unemployment Rate numbers for November. Employment Change is expected to show -21.0K compared to 9.5K jobs added in October. The Unemployment Rate in Canada is likely to increase to 6.4% from 6.2% previous.

The US economy has been shedding jobs at a rapid rate recently and economists are expecting another bout of negative data for the month of November. Non-Farm Employment Change from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is likely to show that 320K jobs were lost in November to add to the 240K cut in October. The US Unemployment Rate, also due at 13:30, should increase to 6.8% from 6.5% seen one month previous.

Last Week
The BOE surprised traders last week when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to cut interest rates by 150 basis points to 3.00%. The market had been expecting a much less aggressive cut to 4.00%. This move fuelled speculation that the BOE will need to cut rates at a faster pace than other central banks and heightened the likelihood that the Official Bank Rate will eventually reach 0.00%.

As you might expect, the GBP closed lower on the week against all other major currencies on the back of this speculation. Although the existing Sterling bearish trends remain in consolidation there are absolutely no signs of a reversal in the medium to long term. The Pound’s value over the coming months will depend on the pace at which the ECB, Federal Reserve and others slash rates. However, the ECB has demonstrated much more measured cuts and the Federal Funds Rate already sits at 1.00% with very little room to the downside.

In the US, Barack Obama became the first African-American President of the United States with 53% of the popular vote. One thing is for certain, he is unlikely to experience any honeymoon period when he is sworn in come January. He will be more than aware of the disappointing economic data coming out of the United States last week.

US Non-Farm Employment Change came in worse than expected at -240K compared to the -200K expected. To make matters worse, September’s data was revised down 125K to -284K. September and October’s data together make the worst two-month series since 2001. Unemployment also surged to the highest level since 1994. It now stands at 6.5%, much worse than the 6.3% expected and 6.1% seen in September.

This Week
The high volatility begins in the early hours of Monday morning this week with Australian Home Loans and the RBA Monetary Policy Statement. September’s Home Loans came in at -2.2% and a further MoM drop of 2.7% is expected to have occurred in October.

Also on Monday we have PPI Input from the UK. This data measures inflation in the prices paid by manufacturers for goods and raw materials. PPI Input is expected to come in at -2.6% MoM for October, compared to -1.2% the month previous.

High volatility from North America is also expected with Canadian Housing Starts expected at 13:15. In September construction on 218K new residential buildings began (annualized) with this number expected to fall to 202K in October.

Monday evening will play host to PPI Input from New Zealand. Prices in September increased by 5.6%.

Tuesday will be fairly quiet this week with French, US and Canadian bank holidays. Although some stock exchanges will remain open large banks will not. Low volatility is likely throughout the Forex market.

At 10:00 we will see high volatility from the German ZEW Economic Sentiment reading. A reading of -62.5 is expected, slightly higher than the -63.0 seen the month before but the index is fixed firmly in pessimistic territory.

At 20:00 the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will release its Financial Stability Report. The report is released twice per year and a press conference is usually held at the release time.

On Wednesday we will see employment data from the UK with Claimant Count Change regarded as most important. It is expected that 40K more UK workers are out of employment, and consequently claiming unemployment benefit when compared to a month earlier.

More high volatility will come from the UK at 10:30 with the BOE Inflation Report due for release. Of course traders will be watching this report closely because it explains the Bank’s view of inflation over the coming two years. However, further interest cuts in the UK may already be set in stone despite these inflation projections.

At 21:45 we will see Core Retail Sales and Retail Sales from New Zealand. The core number is expected to fall by 0.1% MoM compared to a 0.8% increase in September, while the headline number should grow by 0.1% on the month. Growth of 0.4% was seen in the month of September.

Thursday will see Germany deliver its second high volatility release of the week with preliminary quarterly GDP. The German economy is expected to have contracted by 0.2% over the last quarter.

At 13:30 we will see Trade Balance data from the US and Canada. The US trade deficit probably shrunk slightly in October from $59.1B to 56.5B. In Canada, trade surplus is expected to have fallen by CAD 700M to 5.1B.

After a fairly quiet week the US will finish with a flurry of high volatility with no less than 4 such events on Friday, although it does share one of these with the Eurozone.

At 13:30 we will see Core Retail Sales and Retail Sales releases. The core number likely fell by 1.1% on October when compared to -0.6% in September. Headline Retail Sales are expected to have fallen by 2.0% over the same period.

Also at 13:30 we have Fed Chairman Bernanke and ECB President Trichet taking part in a panel discussion at the 5th ECB Banking Conference in Frankfurt. The discussion will be on the topic of "International Interdependencies and Monetary Policy - a Policy Maker's View".

To round up the week we will see preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment with a reading of 56.0 expected.

Without a shadow of a doubt next week’s major news story will be the election of the 44th President of the United States. Who will it be, McCain, Obama? We will have to wait until late Tuesday or the early hours of Wednesday to find out but the US Presidential Election is bound to dominate news wires this week.

So how will financial markets react? Generally speaking, domestic markets attempt an optimistic rally when new leaders are elected. Of course this relies on the premise that policies and conditions facilitating economic growth were bad/ worse under the previous management.

Taking this into account, are we seeing some “buy on rumour” type trading in the US stock market? Last week the S&P 500 and the DOW both had their largest rallies since 1974, up by more than 10%. There seems little doubt that the financial rescue plan is playing a huge part in this relief rally but the market also seems to be responding favourably to Obama’s 7-point lead in the polls.

Last Week
If traders were paying strict attention to last week’s economic releases they may have been forgiven for thinking a stock market rally lacked fundamental justification. This is because 4 out of the 5 high volatility economic indicators released last week pointed to economic slowdown. Consumer Confidence, Core Durable Goods Orders and GDP data all pointed towards contraction while the Federal Funds Rate was slashed by a further 0.50% to 1.00%. Only New Home Sales managed to post MoM growth. Worryingly however, median prices fell to a new four-year low.

This Week
This week’s first high volatility event will arrive on Sunday at 21:45 with New Zealand’s Labour Cost Index. On a quarterly basis the index is expect to increase by 0.8%, in line with that of the previous quarter.

In the early hours of Monday morning we will see Australian Retail Sales Trend. Monthly growth of 0.2% is expected after September’s 0.3% rise.

The rest of the day will be dominated by manufacturing data. The UK’s Manufacturing PMI is due at 09:30 with economists expecting a reading of 40.0. Anything below 50 represents industry contraction so Sterling traders will welcome surprises to the upside.

At 15:00 the US ISM Manufacturing PMI is due to be released. September’s reading was 43.5 and the contraction is expected to deepen in October with a 41.6 consensus estimate.

At 16:00 in the UK we will hear testimony from BOE Governor King, Chancellor of the Exchequer Darling and FSA Chairman Turner on the recent banking crisis. The trio are due to testify before Parliament’s Treasury Committee, in London.

Aside from the US Presidential Election, Tuesday will be fairly quiet on the economic front. In the early hours of the morning we are due to see further tightening of global interest rates as the RBA’s Interest Rate Statement is expected to reveal a further half point cut to 5.50%. This represents a fall of 1.75% since August this year.

Wednesday will be a much busier day beginning early with Australian Building Approvals and Trade Balance. Following on from a 3.7% MoM contraction in the number of permit approvals in September, October’s rate is also expected to fall, by 1.1%. Trade Balance will likely fall to 0.50B AUD from 1.36B previously.

At 09:30 the UK’s manufacturing Industry will come under further scrutiny courtesy of Manufacturing Production which is expected to fall by 0.4% MoM. At the same time Services PMI is expected to reflect further contraction, dropping from 46.0 to 44.5.

As a precursor to official data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics later in the week, ADP’s Non-Farm Employment Change will be closely watched at 13:15. Economists are expecting a reading of -100K in the number of employed people in October.

At 15:00 the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI is expected to worsen from minor expansion in September to 47.3, a reading that would indicate contraction in October.

New Zealand employment data comes to the fore on Wednesday evening at 21:45. Employment Change and Unemployment Rate are both due to be released. Employment Change is expected to show 0.8% fewer people were in employment over the previous quarter. This data contributes to the expected sharp increase in the Unemployment Rate to 4.3% from 3.9%.

Hot on the heels of similar data from New Zealand, Australia will report Employment Change and Unemployment Rate at 00:30 on Thursday morning. It is expected that the Aussie economy shed 10K jobs in October with Unemployment duly up to 4.4% from 4.3% in September.

The BOE Interest Rate Statement is due at 12:00 with the MPC expected to cut the Official Bank Rate to 4.00% from 4.50%. The Global interest rate focus will remain intact at 12:45 with the ECB Minimum Bid Rate Announcement. The ECB is also expected to cut by half a point, down to 3.25% from 3.75%. Traders will be very interested in the ECB Press Conference at 13:30 for an insight into ECB sentiment and the possibilities of further rate cuts.

Also due at 13:30 is Canadian Building Permits data. September saw a huge 13.5% fall in the number of permits issued with another 1.3% fall expected in October. Also from Canada at 15:00 is they Ivey PMI. This indicator attempts to reflect the health of the economy as a whole and expansion is expected to slow to 56.0 from 61.0 previous.

Friday’s focus will be on data from North America with Canadian Employment Change and Unemployment Rate getting things started at 12:00. The Canadian economy impressively added 106.9K jobs in September with 10K less jobs expected for October. Unemployment Rate is expected to worsen slightly, up to 4.2% from 4.1%.

At 13:30 we will see one of the most highly anticipated releases in the economic calendar. Non-Farm Employment Change from the US is expected to show 200K fewer employed people in October after 159K less in September. Unemployment rate, due at the same time, is expected to worsen from 6.1% to 6.3%.

There will barely be time for the dust from Non-Farm Payrolls to settle before Pending Home Sales are released at 15:00. With September’s MoM increase of 7.4%, sales in October likely fell by 3.4%.

This week will be rounded off by the New Zealand Parliamentary Election on Saturday. Although the impact on global markets will be limited there should be some effect on the New Zealand Dollar early next week.

Traders go into this week with the $700 billion credit market bailout casting a shadow over the economic data schedule. However, this should be resolved early in the week as the US Treasury tries to push the deal through.

Interestingly, a look at interest rate futures tells us that there is currently an 80% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 0.25% in their October meeting. The dust from the credit bailout will hardly have time to settle before traders start looking at this week’s massively important data. But will the economic indicators support the need for a cut or serve to reduce it?

This Week
The first high volatility event of the week will come from New Zealand on Sunday evening at 22:45. The New Zealand Trade Balance is expected to expand its deficit from 781 million Dollars to 912 million.

Monday will be reasonably quiet on the data front with the Core PCE Price Index from the US worth a watch. However, this is classed as a medium volatility event. The only high volatility news scheduled for Monday will come from New Zealand once again. Building Consents are due at 22:45 and are coming off the back of a 4.7% MoM increase for the month of July.

Tuesday will be very busy beginning with Building Approvals and Retail Sales Trend at 02:30 from Australia. Building Approvals are expected to fall by 1.0% MoM following a 2.3% decline in June. The Retail Sales Trend number is set to post a 0.1% increase, inline with the previous month’s number.

At 03:00 New Zealand will follow with its third high volatility event of the week. The National Bank of New Zealand Business Confidence indicator is due. Last month’s reading was -20.5 and traders will be keen to see if a recovery has taken place.

Next up at 09:30 is UK Current Account. The data is expected to come in at -9.7billion GBP compared to -8.4billion previous.

Later in the day the economic focus will shift to the opposite side of the Atlantic with Canada and the US reporting. Canada will release their monthly Gross Domestic Product. Last month’s data posted a modest gain of 0.1% with 0.2% expected this time.

The first high volatility event of the week from the US will be the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence. The index is expected to worsen slightly from 56.9 to 54.6.

Wednesday will be slightly quieter with 4 high volatility events scheduled compared to Tuesday’s 5. The US economic machine will really kick in but Japan’s Tankan Large Manufacturers Index is due first at 00:50. The index came in at 5 last time but it is expected to turn negative at -2 this time.

The UK’s Manufacturing PMI is due to be released at 09:30. Once again the index is likely to show industry contraction with a reading of 45.0 expected.

At 13:15 the first of the week’s important US employment data is set to be released. ADP Non-Farm Employment Change is expected to show 55K fewer jobs in September. This data will be very closely watched as it leads the official government figure by two days.

Later on at 15:00 the ISM Manufacturing PMI will be released. Last month the index was 0.1 below the expansion/ contraction threshold of 50.0 and it is expected that this number will deteriorate to 49.5 for September.

On Thursday at 02:30 the Australian Trade Balance is due. Last month it came in at -0.72B billion AUD. This deficit is expected to be reversed to a slight surplus of 0.26 billion.

This will be followed by the UK’s Nationwide House Price Index at 07:00. The data is expected to show a 1.6% decline for the month of September after a 1.9% fall in August.

One of the main events of the week will be the ECB Interest Rate Announcement and the accompanying ECB Press Conference. The rate announcement is considered a medium volatility event with no change expected. However there is more of a risk to the downside and a rate cut may not be completely unexpected. The Eurozone Minimum Bid Rate currently stands at 4.25%.

The ECB Press Conference is regarded as a high volatility event as traders watch closely for Trichet’s explanation of the rate decision. The language used in the press conference is scrutinized very closely for clues to future rate moves.

Ahead of the Non-Farm Employment Change data due on Friday, Initial Jobless Claims will be closely watched. Last week’s new claims exploded to 493K with the number expected to fall slightly to 475K this week.

Friday will be dominated by news from the US but prior to this UK Services PMI is expected to create high volatility. The service sector is expected to show contraction in the month of September with a reading of 48.0 expected when compared to August’s 49.2.

At 13:30 US employment data will take centre stage. Non-Farm Employment Change is likely to show 100k fewer jobs compared to -84k in August. After increasing from 5.5% 3 months ago, US Unemployment Rate is likely to remain firm at 6.1%.

At 15:00 the final high volatility event of the week is due. This time it showcases the US non-manufacturing sector. ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI is expected to fall to the expansion/ contraction zone for the month of September, deteriorating from 50.6 the month before.

For full updates please see this week's economic calendar.