This week markets have been focused on jobs. There are various ways to measure the strength of an economy but the number of jobs and how much workers get paid is a fairly fundamental part of the economic puzzle. In the UK, privately compiled jobs data has been positive, but we have to wait until Monday for the official government statistics. US jobs data from the private sector has been a bit mixed but overall shows the labour market over there remains quite strong. The big piece of jobs data in the US is the government’s monthly non farm payrolls figure. After a surprisingly strong reading in January, markets are watching to see how February’s figures compare.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell rattled markets earlier this week with his testimony to Congress where he appeared to open the way for a 0.5% rate hike this month. Powell suggested the Fed will be guided by the “totality of the data” shows this is necessary. Another strong non farm payrolls report will be a big step towards a bigger hike this time round.
Read what the team at Financial Express consider to be significant over the current week.