US Week Ahead: China, PMI and FOMC minutes - Danske Bank

Next week, the key reports in the US include the PMI, capital goods and existing home sales data and the FOMC minutes. Analysts from Danske Bank explain that US-China trade talks are set to continue with apparently more flexibility ahead. 

Key Quotes: 

“Markit PMIs for February (preliminary) are due out on Thursday. We still expect Markit manufacturing PMI to stabilise around the current level of 54.9. While the US is not immune to the global slowdown, expansionary fiscal policy is pulling in the other direction.”

“Thursday also brings capital goods data for December. New capital goods orders fell unexpectedly in November, which shows a slowdown in investments as the end of 2018. We expect investments to continue growing in 2019 but probably not at the same pace as in 2017 and 2018.”

“On Thursday, existing home sales numbers are due out. The housing market has begun to show some weakness, likely to driven by higher mortgage rates.”

“On Wednesday, FOMC meeting minutes are due out. We will be interested to hear the different stances within the Fed on further hikes now it has hinted it is ‘patient’ about raising rates again. Furthermore, we will monitor any insights it might have on how it plans the balance sheet reduction.”