Geopolitics amongst market movers today – Danske Bank

Danske Bank analysts suggest that market focus continues to be on the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.

Key Quotes

“In terms of data releases, the highlight today is euro area inflation. We expect it to show that the ECB's 'mild increase in underlying inflation pressures' came to a halt in December with core inflation falling back to 1.2%. Despite this, higher food and energy prices should still help lift headline inflation further and country figures point to a reading of 1.3%. We also get euro area retail sales for November.”

“US ISM non-manufacturing is due for release today. Even though there is usually not a strong correlation between non-manufacturing and manufacturing (which was very weak on Friday), the number will likely gain significant attention. ISM non-manufacturing is already at a relatively weak point. We are also monitoring the employment sub-index for clues what to expect on Friday when the official jobs report is due out. We believe the labour market continued to tighten in December.”

“In Sweden we have PMI services for December today. PMI manufacturing recovered slightly to 47.1 in December and we might also see a small rise for the service index, which at 47.9 is still at the weakest level since 2013.”