It’s shaping up to be quite a busy day as far as announcements are concerned, with the US and Europe leading the way.

In the early hours of tomorrow morning, is releasing a number of pieces of information. This includes: Unemployment Claims, Import Prices, Natural Gas Storage and Federal Budget Balance. The Unemployment Claims figure is a weekly figure and it gives us good look at the economy as far as the labour market is concerned. This figure is the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the previous week. Import prices is important as it reflects the cost of importing goods. Prices can fluctuate for a number of reasons – a strengthening/weakening of the USD/Foreign currency and supply/demand for goods. The Budget Balance is vital to track the budget bottom line as this figure reflects the difference in value between the Federal Government’s income and spending during the previous month. Meanwhile, two Fed Reserve Members, Charles Evans & Patrick Harker are set to deliver speeches. Lastly, Fed Chair Janet Yellen is also set to speak late tomorrow morning.

Europe is also set to release a few pieces of data. This includes: French Final CPI, Italian Industrial Production and European Industrial Production. The CPI figure is quite important as it reflects inflationary pressures within France – Europe’s second largest economy. Higher prices are generally caused by supply and demand. If supply outstrips demand, it generally means that prices will fall in order to generate more demand. Conversely, if demand outstrips supply, prices generally rise in order to reduce demand. Industrial Production figures are important as they reflect the strength of the industrial sector in Italy and Europe as a whole. Meanwhile, the ECB is also set to release its Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes from its previous meeting in December.

Elsewhere, Japan is releasing its Economy Watchers Sentiment and Canada is releasing NHPI (New Housing Price Index) data.