Non-Farm data the main talking point for markets leading into the weekend

March 10, 2017

It’s quite a busy night for markets as far as announcements go, with plenty of information coming out of the UK and Europe. But it is the US where markets will concentrate their focus.

The US is releasing its all-important Non-Farm Employment Change data. This data indicates the change in the number of employed people during the previous month, excluding the farming industry. This data is critical as the Fed Reserve uses this information to help form the basis of its monetary policy decision. As this is the final Non-Farm figure release before the next Fed meeting, this takes on even more significance. The ADP Non-Farm figure that was released a couple of days ago showed a strong beat of forecast figures. Will the government figures reflect the same trend? Or will we see an uncommon divergence between the two sets of figures? Other data set for publication by the US includes: Average Hourly Earnings, Unemployment Rate and Federal Budget Balance.

The UK is set to publish a few pieces of data. This includes: Manufacturing Production, Goods Trade Balance, Construction Output, Consumer Inflation Expectations, Industrial Production and NIESR GDP Estimate. The most important data to be released from the UK is the Manufacturing Production data. This information is vital to gauge the strength of the manufacturing sector within the UK. This data has become more important since the UK voted to leave the EU. It is crucial that the UK economy remains strong, particularly in such uncertain times.

Elsewhere around the world, Europe is reporting German Trade Balance, French Industrial Production and Italian Quarterly Unemployment Rate figures while Canada is releasing Employment Change and Unemployment Rate data.