On the U.S. economic calendar this week, new releases are due out on retail sales, consumer and producer price inflation, and labor productivity. The consensus forecasts are that U.S. retail sales advanced 0.5% in November while consumer prices rose by a modest 0.2 percent.
On the monetary policy front, both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank hold their final monetary policy meetings of the year, with no change in rates expected. Key overseas developments include this week’s election in the United Kingdom, with the Financial Times reporting “The UK goes to the polls on Thursday when voters will decide whether Boris Johnson’s mantra to ‘get Brexit done’ or the Labour party’s most leftwing manifesto in a generation has won them over.” Most polls are pointing to a sizeable Conservative party victory, although British polling has come under significant criticism in recent years. In Germany, we’ll get the results of the latest ZEW Survey of economic conditions this week, following last week’s disappointing report on German industrial production:
Markets will once again be paying close attention to any signs of progress on U.S.-China trade talks this week as an additional round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports could potentially come into place on December 15th. Don’t miss next week’s ISRI Market Report for a recap of the week’s key economic, trade, commodity, and scrap market highlights.
