Thomas Watts, Senior Investment Analyst, Aberdeen MPS, has shared his thoughts on the economic data releases this week.
Today online estate agent Rightmove releases its Housing Price Index data. The numbers usually act as a leading indicator of the housing industry’s health as rising house prices often attract investors and spur industry activity. When a house is bought or sold, it creates a ripple effect across many different sectors, from solicitors and surveyors to DIY shops all cashing in, making the data both important and far-reaching.
The Office for National Statistics brings us the next piece of domestic data on Wednesday as the UK’s latest inflation reading is made public. Measuring the change in the price of goods and services purchased by consumers, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) provides a major boon for the Bank of England (BoE) when deliberating over future rate policy. With the past two monthly reading both coming in below expectations and the central bank seeing a three-way split when deciding to cut rates last week, the latest inflationary reading should take on added importance.
Thursday should give us a better idea of how companies are seeing the global economy as a mass of Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) readings are released. Covering both the Manufacturing and Services sectors for Germany, France, an overall European composite, the UK and US, there will be a lot to digest. The readings will give us an invaluable sense of the global economy at a company level with businesses being asked to rate the relative level of business conditions including employment, production, new orders, prices, supplier deliveries and inventories.
