Wednesday preview: US private sector payrolls, Fed meeting minutes in focus

Wednesday's focus in financial markets will be on the release of consultancy ADP's private sector payrolls report for the month of December with traders likely to be looking for any hint of Omicron's impact on activity towards the end of the month.

Worth noting, the all-important monthly non-farm payrolls reports is due out two days later.

Against that backdrop, after the close of trading in London, the US central bank will publish the minutes of its 15 December policy decision.

According to economists at Barclays Research, the minutes will show that most top policymakers at the Federal Reserve supported eliminating the reference in the central bank's policy statement to inflation being driven by transitory forces "and that policy rate hikes should begin once the economy reaches maximum employment".

"We also expect the minutes to include some discussion on balance sheet runoff, though not much in the way of information beyond that these discussions remain at a very early stage."

Across the Channel meanwhile, a raft of Purchasing Managers' indices for the euro area services sector covering the month of December are due out.

No major economic releases are scheduled in the UK or US.

Wednesday, 5 January

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)

PMI Services (GER) (08:55)

PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)

PMI Services (EU) (09:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

PMI Services (US) (14:45)

PMI Composite (US) (14:45)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)