Money Minute Friday 7 February: is Germany mired in recession?
Today's Money Minute looks at German industrial production, where the manufacturing sector is hoping to see signs of recovery
Good morning and welcome to Money Minute, where we preview the day's biggest financial stories.
In the eurozone, we get German industrial production for December. Activity in the German manufacturing industry has been contracting for five quarters in a row.The sector has started to see tentative signs of recovery - or at least, activity isn’t slowing as rapidly as it was.However, it's likely that December’s reading will confirm that the industry remained mired in recession at the end of last year.
In the US meanwhile, we get the latest nonfarm payrolls data. Analysts expect the US economy to have added around 160,000 jobs last month.Meanwhile, wages are expected to be up 3% on last year.
The Federal Reserve has already made it clear that it has no intention of raising interest rates any time soon, at least, not until inflation has reared its head far more aggressively.So markets will probably be hoping for a figure that beats expectations.That would take some of the edge off fears that the coronavirus will hurt global growth this year.