Traders’ Attention Shifts To FOMC Minutes, JOLTS Report

On Wednesday, traders’ attention will be centered on US economic data, with bets on the direction of interest rates continuing, as earnings and updates are once again scarce.

Fed is determined to monitor emerging economic data before indicating any changes to future monetary policy, so the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Wednesday will be keenly observed. There should be an increase in job vacancies from 8.733 million in October to 8.850 million in November.

The data comes before Thursday’s ADP Employment Report and the all-important non-farm payrolls figure for December on Friday.

ISM manufacturing report is also looming, which is expected to show that the purchasing managers’ index for December rose to 47.1 from 46.7 in November.

Although they won’t be made public until after the closing in London, the minutes of the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting will also be discussed. Fed officials have refuted the notion that an easing would occur soon, despite Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s obvious allusion to the prospect at the December FOMC meeting. Economists anticipate that the FOMC is not considering rate reduction just yet based on this week’s minutes.

In other US economic news, MBA mortgage applications for the week to 29 December and vehicle sales for December from Autodata Corp will also be published.