Yesterday’s data from Euro Zone was mixed. Germany showed better PMI than expected, but still around previous levels, but on the other hand France have published soft Manufacturing PMI figure (46.5).
US data came very good with existing house sales well above 5 million and mfg PMI at 58.0 instead of 55.8 expected. Also leading indexes from Philadelphia and Conference Board were green.
Today Canada will publish CPI and Retail Sales data. Economists expect CPI to stay soft around -0.1% to 0.1%. Meanwhile Retail Sales may come pretty good with 0.3% – 0.4% increase in June.
However, today’s main focus is Jackson Hole symposium, where central bankers from all over the world will debate about monetary policy. Main theme will be labor market and Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi will give key speeches. There is plenty of speculation about what will Janet say. Credit Agricole analysts suggest, that she will stick with her previous views about “significant slack” in labor market proved by “wide range of labor indicators”. Despite latest hawkish FOMC minutes, most members of the committee are still concerned about underutilization of labor resources.
