Eurozone GDP and US inflation figures are due today

Investors will be paying attention to Eurozone quarterly and annual GDP figures and the ZEW economic sentiment survey today. ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos has recently highlighted the challenges that the Eurozone is facing, saying that inflation remains a problem despite a broader disinflationary trend. Factors that are adding to the ECB’s challenges include volatility in energy and food prices, geopolitical tensions and fiscal policies. He added that the labour market is still fragile. Other data to be published include the ZEW survey about the current situation and economic sentiment for Germany. The fibre is currently trading at 1.0697.

Job market data is due for the UK economy with quarterly average earnings, ILO unemployment rate and the claimant count change due today. In the wake of UK PM Rishi Sunak’s recent cabinet reshuffle and ahead of these figures, the cable was trading at 1.2274.

Key data expected today pertain to inflation figures for the US economy. As the matter of fact, the Federal Reserve opted in favour of maintaining the federal funds rate unchanged in the range of 5.25% to 5.50% at the beginning of the month while in late October, US annualised GDP was found to have grown by 4.9% in Q3, highlighting the resilience of the US economy despite lingering hopes about a soft-landing. Last Friday, Moody’s downgraded its rating outlook of the US to negative from stable but affirmed the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at Aaa. The US debt level currently stands at USD 33.7 trillion while the fiscal deficit is at USD 1.7 trillion. The ratings agency is of the view that the US fiscal deficit will remain large and will hence weaken debt affordability. FOMC member Barr will be testifying about the oversight of financial regulators before the Senate Banking Committee while FOMC members Goolsbee, Jefferson and Williams are due to speak at distinct events today. The US dollar index was trading at 105.56 at the time of writing.