US housing starts and building permits should give us a better idea of a possible bad weather impact in December as suggested by the disappointing labour market report for December. Particularly housing starts should be sensitive to bad weather. As they were extraordinarily strong in November, a decline in December appears unavoidable.
US industrial production is expected to have shown another reasonable gain in December on the back of strong gains in November. Hence, the hard manufacturing data now appear to be catching up with the strong manufacturing surveys.
University of Michigan consumer confidence is also expected to have continued to edge higher in January.
In the UK retail sales for December will be released. Sales have slowed down recently after a very strong boost until autumn last year. Consensus is for a moderate rise in December.
Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker (non-voter, hawkish) is scheduled to speak at 18:30 CET. Furthermore, Q4 earnings with among others Morgan Stanley and General Electric reporting today.
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