In what shapes up to be a huge week of announcements, the main focus for today is Europe and the US.

Out of Europe later today, a number of figures are set to be released. These include: German Retail Sales, CPI Flash Estimate, Core CPI Flash Estimate, Prelim Flash GDP and Italian Prelim CPI. Retail Sales data is important as it gives us an indication of the spending habits of the retail sector in Germany. The CPI figures are quite important as it is a reflection of consumer spending with the economy. More confident consumers are likely to spend more money, so not only are they raw spending figures, they can also give us a clue to consumer sentiment. The GDP figure is crucial in determining the strength of growth within the European economy.

Moving over to the US, they are releasing a few pieces of data, including: Core PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) Price Index, Personal Spending, Personal Income and Chicago PMI. Just like Europe, the consumer related figures all point towards consumer sentiment and confidence as well as consumer spending habits. The PMI is important as it is an indicator that reflects economic health. Companies react to changing economic conditions and sentiment, so their decisions on employment, new orders, pricing etc can give us an insight into the economic environment.

Elsewhere, the UK are releasing Net Lending to Individuals, M4 Money Supply and Mortgage Approvals figures, while Japan is releasing Housing Starts data. Net lending and M4 Money Supply figures give an indication on consumer lending habits within the UK, while the Mortgage Approvals figures reflect the relative strength of the housing industry. This is also the case with the Japanese Housing Starts data.