Weekly Notion: Top Five Things to Watch on the Economic Calendar This Week

Photo: Reuters

Investing.com -- It’s a big week for U.S. data with the release of the November jobs report on Friday, but market sentiment is more likely to be dictated by news about the timing of vaccine distribution and concerns about more aggressive measures to curb the spread of the virus after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Investors will be closely watching testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in Washington.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to delay plans to step up oil output when it meets during the week.

Meanwhile, eurozone inflation data is likely to cement expectations that the European Central Bank will ramp up stimulus measures at its next policy meeting.

Here’s what you need to know to start your week.

Vaccine timing

News this month of three promising coronavirus vaccine candidates has helped propel the Dow Jones Industrial Average over 30,000 and investors will be closely following plans for the initial rollout.

U.S. health authorities are to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration allow healthcare professionals and people in long-term care facilities to be the first two groups to get a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, which is awaiting approval.

Nonfarm payrolls

Concerns that the steeply escalating numbers of new virus cases and more widespread containment measures have been undermining the recovery in the labor market mean that Friday’s November nonfarm payrolls figures will be closely watched.

The report is expected to show a seventh straight month of jobs gains, but the consensus forecast that only 500,000 jobs were added.

The unemployment rate is expected to tick down to 6.8% from 6.9%, still well above the 4.5% rate in March, before much of the U.S. economy went into lockdown.

Powell and Mnuchin faceoff

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and again a day later before the House Financial Services Committee.

They will be discussing the CARES Act, under which Congress in March allocated $2 trillion in pandemic aid to the U.S. Treasury, much of which was set aside to support Fed lending programs.

OPEC+ meeting

OPEC and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+ had been expected to increase oil output by 2 million barrels per day from January to ease the record supply cuts that were implemented amid a price slump earlier this year.

Eurozone inflation data

Data on Tuesday is expected to show that eurozone inflation fell again in November, with economists expecting a drop of 0.2% year-on-year.

The European Central Bank has already said it expects inflation to average -0.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, but a fourth straight month of negative price growth may cause alarm bells to ring.

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