Europe and the US kick off a busy week of announcements later today and into tomorrow morning.

Out of Europe, there are quite a number of announcements. These include: French, German and European Flash Manufacturing PMI’s, French, German and European Flash Services PMI’s and also the German Buba monthly report. Both sets of PMI’s (Purchasing Managers Index) are important as they reflect the general confidence and business conditions in both industry sectors. As Germany and France are the largest economies in the Eurozone, we look to these figures with great interest. The Buba report is relevant as it provides detailed analysis of current and future economic conditions from the viewpoint of the German Bundesbank (who releases the info).

The US is only one piece of information, but there are a couple of speeches that may be cause of some great interest. The US are releasing their Flash Manufacturing PMI, which as above, is important as it reflects general confidence and business conditions in the manufacturing sector. Two Fed Reserve members (Dudley & Bullard) are both giving speeches later tonight. While they are not official interest rate meetings, they sometimes drop clues into the thinking of monetary policy of the Fed Reserve.

Elsewhere around the world, Japan are releasing their Trade Balance and Flash Manufacturing PMI. In the UK ,Monetary Policy Committee Member Nemat Shafik speaks as well as releasing CBI (Confederation British Industry) Industrial Order Expectations data. Lastly, Canada are releasing Wholesale Sales data and China are releasing their CB (Conference Board) Leading Index figures.