US inflation, Nike and Micron earnings: what investors need to know this week
Wall Street will focus this week on the US labor market and inflation data. These statistics are crucial for the Fed's further actions on its "dual mandate" of maximizing employment on the one hand and price stability on the other.
In addition, the market is focused on the meetings of the world's leading central banks: the Bank of England is expected to cut rates, the ECB is expected to signal the suspension of easing, and the Bank of Japan is expected to increase the cost of borrowing. Traders will also follow business activity indices in Europe and macro statistics from China, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Yahoo Finance highlights FedEx, Micron and Nike among the most significant corporate reports due out this week.
On Monday, December 15, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that industrial production growth slowed to an annualized rate of 4.8% in November. This is below the October figure (4.9%) and the market consensus forecast (5%). The growth rate in November is the lowest since August 2024, Trading Economics notes.
Fixed asset investment in January-November decreased by 2.6% in China, stronger than market expectations (consensus forecast suggested a 2.3% decline). The decline was recorded for the third month in a row and is the sharpest since June 2020, which is due to the continued decline in real estate and infrastructure capex amid a slowdown in manufacturing investment growth, Trading Economics said.
On Tuesday, December 16, the U.S. Department of Labor will release the November employment report along with October data, which was not released on time due to the U.S. government shutdown. The Census Bureau will release retail sales statistics for October in the world's largest economy. The consensus forecast calls for sales to rise 0.2% month-over-month, the same as in September, according to Barron's. S&P will publish December business activity indices (PMI) in the manufacturing and services sectors.
Quarterly earnings will be reported by Lennar.
General Mills, Jabil and Micron will disclose financial statements on Wednesday, December 17 .
On Thursday, December 18, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will announce monetary policy decisions. Markets expect the ECB to leave the interest rate unchanged at its last meeting in 2025, and are not pricing in an interest rate cut in 2026, so traders' attention will now focus on the regulator's GDP and inflation forecasts, WSJ reports. "We expect a significant upward revision to short-term growth forecasts and a moderate downward revision to medium-term inflation," the stock publication quoted a note from a team of analysts at RBC Capital Markets as saying.
At the same time, the markets are almost certain that the Bank of England will lower the rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% to support the weakening economy. This cut will be the fourth in 2025. However, inflation in the country remains high: in October, prices rose by 3.6% in annualized terms at the central bank's target level of 2%. In this regard, analysts expect another tough vote with the distribution of votes 5 to 4, where the decisive will be the vote of Governor Andrew Bailey, notes WSJ.
The U.S. Department of Labor will release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November. The consensus estimate assumes growth of 3.1% in annualized terms. The agency did not collect inflation data for October due to the shutdown.
Accenture, Birkenstock, Cintas, Darden Restaurants, FedEx and Nike will report earnings.
On Friday, December 19, the Bank of Japan is likely to raise the interest rate from 0.5% to 0.75% - to the highest level since 1995, writes Barron's. Fundamental economic indicators give little reason to keep the rate unchanged, says Ayako Fujita of JPMorgan Chase.
Carnival, Conagra Brands, Lamb Weston and Paychex will announce quarterly financial results.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
