Friday preview: US jobs report, Halifax house prices
All eyes at the end of the week will be on the US jobs report for June, which could heavily influence near-term expectations for the Federal Reserve.
Given the recent heightened global trade tensions, continued solid growth in labour demand is considered a prerequisite for the economic expansion to hold, although a trend towards a modest slowdown in hiring Stateside is widely anticipated in the near-term as the impact of last year's tax cuts wears off.
Economists at Barclays Research and Pantheon Macroeconomics are forecasting a 150,000 increase in non-farm payrolls, following May's lower than expected turnout of 75,000, versus a consensus call for a gain of 158,000 and an average monthly increase of 149,000 over the prior three-month stretch.
Nevertheless, a weaker than expected reading of 102,000 (consensus: 140,000) on consultancy ADP's survey of private sector payrolls for June had introduced a degree of added uncertainty into markets heading into Friday's release.
The rate of unemployment on the other hand is seen holding at 3.6%, although the year-on-year rate of growth in average hourly earnings is seen picking up from 3.1% to 3.2%.
Backing up his call for Friday's report, Pantheon Macroeconomics's chief economist, Ian Shepherdson, pointed to the recent "substantial recovery" in the employment gauges contained in the ISM institute's PMIs and in the National Federation of Independent Businesses's monthly confidence survey.
Shepherdson's forecast was for the US rate of employment to continue grinding lower to 3.25% by year end 2019.
Back on home turf, mortgage lender Halifax's house price index is due to be published at 0830 BST.
Also due out are the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's permanent staff placements and salaries indices for May.
Across the Channel, readings on German factory orders and Spanish industrial production, at 0700 BST and 0800 BST, respectively, are the main releases that investors will be watching.
In the Russian Federation, the latest consumer price data are expected to reveal a slowdown in the year-on-year rate of price gains from 5.1% for May to 4.8% in June, which could factor into a decision by the Central Bank of Russia to lop off another 25 basis points - and perhaps another 50 - from the country's official interest rates when its policymakers next meet later in July.
A reading on household spending in Japan for May is also expected, alongside CPI data for the month of June in the Philippines and Taiwan.
Friday July 05
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Associated British Foods, Countryside Properties, Grainger, Shaftesbury
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Aberdeen Diversified Income and Growth Trust , Cineworld Group
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)
Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)
Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cineworld Group
AGMS
Value and Income Trust
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Halifax House Price Index (08:30)
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Animalcare Group, Balfour Beatty, Billington Holdings, Christie Group, Cineworld Group, Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Investment Trust Red, Global Ports Holding, Gore Street Energy Storage Fund , Judges Scientific, London Security, M&C Saatchi, Nasstar, Restaurant Group, SIG, Synthomer, Tarsus Group, Whitbread