2024: All eyes on US inflation rate

Following the Christmas and New Year holidays, markets are expected to start to return to normal activities. The focus will then turn to the release of US inflation data for December on January 11.

As investors continue to monitor the US economy’s disinflationary pressures, they will also be looking for hints about when the first interest rate reduction by the Federal Reserve will occur.

The dollar’s price action is mainly driven by this view. As a result, the EUR/USD approached the 1.1000 psychological mark on Friday after the US payrolls data.

The November trade balance (January 9th), the usual weekly jobless claims (January 11th) and producer prices (January 12th) are also important data releases in the US.

On the domestic front, German industrial output, trade balance, and new orders are expected to keep the focus on Germany over the next seven days.

Towards the end of the week, across the Channel, GDP figures, industrial production and manufacturing output will attract attention.

China will release its December CPI and the always important trade figures on January 12.

On January 10th, Australian inflation will also be in the spotlight.

In terms of central banks, the Bank of Korea (BoK) has its policy meeting on January 11th and expectations are for an unchanged policy rate of 3.50%.