Week Ahead Economic Overview

 | Dec 02, 2016 09:01

A number of central banks around the world announce their latest monetary policy decisions in a week that also sees service sector and whole economy PMI results providing more information on global economic trends. Moreover, official industrial production data are published across Europe.

Markets will be watching the weekend’s referendum in Italy, and there’s the possibility of the ECB temporarily increasing purchases of Italian bonds if borrowing costs in the country spike higher as a result of the vote.

ECB rate setters will also meet on Thursday to discuss the future of monetary policy in the euro area. It is widely expected that bank boss Mario Draghi will announce an extension of the ECB’s quantitative easing programme beyond March. However, the latest business survey data and official unemployment numbers have raised the possibility that the ECB may start tapering its asset purchases next year if economic conditions continue to improve. The while official unemployment data showed the jobless rate falling to its lowest level since mid-2009.

h3 Eurozone GDP and the PMI/h3