Italian and Spanish service PMIs are expected to show further improvement, and based on the flash euro-area PMIs, our forecasts are above consensus.
Retail sales in Europe should decline after they increased strongly in November. However, the expected decline of 0.6% will not change our forecast for private consumption and GDP growth in Q4.
In the US the ADP employment figure is likely to attract some attention ahead of the employment report to be released on Friday. Even though the two are not highly correlated, a weak number today will probably reduce expectations about the job report after the weak ISM manufacturing figure Monday.
There could be downside risk to our forecast for ISM non-manufacturing but the weather distortions on services should be smaller.
Fed's Plosser and Lockhart are both due to speak about the economy tonight. Plosser's speech will probably be most notable as he just became eligible to vote due to the annual rotation of presidents on the FOMC.
Norwegian housing data will be closely followed for further signs of stabilisation following the weak Q4.
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