Friday preview: US jobs report, barrage of Fed speakers in focus

All eyes will be on the US jobs report for December, especially following a much weaker-than-expected reading on manufacturing sector activity for that same month published on Thursday, together with a barrage of Fed speakers.

According to Pantheon Macroeconomics's chief economist, Ian Shepherdson, the recent correction in the stockmarket was set to weigh on non-farm payrolls figures over the next couple of months "somewhat", but for now "all the indicators of labor demand we follow are very robust".

Furthermore, in the month after a weather hit, it was "normal" to expect a stronger official number than that reported by consultancy ADP, he said.

For December, ADP has reported a very sharp pick-up of 271,000 in private sector payrolls.

Shepherdson is calling for a 225,000 increase in hiring, whereas the consensus forecast was for a rise of 177,000, alongside a 0.3% month-on-month rise in average hourly earnings.

In terms of Fedspeak, the key risk event will be a panel discussion at 1715 GMT in which chairman Jerome Powell is expected to take part.

He will be followed later in the session by the Presidents of the Atlanta, Richmond and St.Louis Feds, of which only the latter, James Bullard, is a vote wielding member of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2019.

Back in the UK, at 09:30 GMT, IHS Markit will release its services sector Purchasing Managers' Index for December.

It will arrive alongside the latest set of consumer credit and mortgage lending data from the Bank of England.

Across the Channel, the same survey compiler is due to publish an equivalent PMI for the Eurozone, which will be followed by a preliminary reading on euro area consumer prices out of Eurostat.

Further afield, in Japan, investors are waiting on the latest figures for consumer prices in Tokyo covering the month of December and industrial production in November.

Friday January 04

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Biffa, JD Sports Fashion, Liontrust Asset Management, Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust, MS International, Renewi , Severn Trent, Tate & Lyle, Ten Entertainment Group , ULS Technology

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Blackrock North American Income Trust , Real Estate Credit Investments Ltd

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)

PMI Composite (GER) (08:30)

PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:30)

PMI Services (GER) (08:30)

Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)

Unemployment Rate (US) (12:30)

EGMS

Aminex

AGMS

Cambria Automobiles, Craven House Capital

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Johnson Service Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

British Empire Trust, Town Centre Securities