A number of announcements coming out today, with the US front and centre.

Later tonight and into the early hours of tomorrow morning, the US is releasing a number of pieces of data. This includes: ADP Non-Farm Employment Change, Challenger Job Cuts, Unemployment Claims, Final Services PMI, ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI, Natural Gas Storage and finally, Crude Oil Inventories. The most crucial piece of data here is the ADP data. This data strongly correlates with official government employment change figures. The official government employment change figures are closely looked at by the Fed Reserve when they meet to discuss interest rates. As the ADP figures are generally released a couple of days before the government figures, the ADP figures give us a great indication of official employment trends for the month. Challenger Job Cuts and Unemployment Claims are also handy in helping to gauge the relative strength of the labour market. The PMI figures are important as they reflect the strength of their respective sectors, while gas storage and crude oil data can have an effect on world prices.

Elsewhere, China is releasing its Caixin Services PMI, Switzerland is releasing CPI data, Europe is announcing its Retail PMI and PPI data, the UK its Services PMI and finally, Canada is releasing RMPI & IPPI data. Aside from announcements, UK MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) Member Andy Haldane is set to speak.