Friday preview: UK elections, US non-farm payrolls in focus

Investors' focus at the end of the week would be on the results of the UK elections.

According to Lee Hardman at MUFG, Sterling might benefit from a Labour Party victory given its pledge to fiscal orthodoxy.

Indeed, many observers believe that at least in relative terms the UK may prove an oasis of stability when compared to the political gyrations on the other side of the Channel.

Against that backdrop, at 1230 BST the US Department of Labor would release the latest 'all-important' monthly non-farm payrolls figures.

Labor was expected to announced a downshift in the pace of net hiring from the 272,000 person clip observed in May to 190,000 for June.

Average hourly earnings meanwhile were seen growing at a month-on-month pace of 0.3% in June, whilst the rate of unemployment was seen steady at 4.0%.

Ahead of the release of the latest numbers, economists at Oxford Economics cautioned that the payrolls numbers released each June were more uncertain than average due to seasonal adjustment problems around increased hiring in leisure and hospitality, alongside the typical layoffs in state and local governments.

They also said that they would be watching the breadth of any further increases in the rate of unemployment, although a dip was likely in June.

Slower growth in average hourly earnings would also add to evidence that the jobs market was rebalancing, they said.

Friday 05 July

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)

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

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)

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UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

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