MNI European Morning Briefing

     LONDON (MNI) - The European economic docket kicks off at 0700GMT with

German Wholesale Prices.

     At 0820GMT ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure gives a speech at

National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia /Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee

International conference, in Skopje, Macedonia.

     UK Retail Sales will be published at 0930GMT. Analysts foresee UK sales

volumes back in the black, up +0.5% m/m on a total basis and +0.4% m/m on a

ex-fuel basis -- sales were up a strong +1.0% m/m in November, followed by a

-1.5% m/m slide in sales in December.

     Across the Atlantic the calendar kicks off with US Import/Export Price

Index figures at 1330GMT.

     The US will also release Housing Starts data and the New York Fed Business

Leaders Survey at 1330GMT.

     The seasonally adjusted pace of housing starts is expected to rebound to a

1.225 million annual rate in January after slipping back in December. The NAHB

index fell modestly in January.

     There are several Canadian releases also due at 1330GMT, Monthly Survey of

Manufacturing and International Canadian Transaction in Securities.

     At 1500GMT the preliminary University of Michigan Sentiment Index is on the

schedule. The Michigan Sentiment index is expected to slide to 95.0 in

early-February after holding roughly steady at 95.7 in January, but the recent

plunge in the stock market provides some downside risk.

     US E-Commerce Retail Sales figures are also due at 1500GMT alongside the

Advance Quarterly Services Survey.

     At 1600GMT the St. Louis Fed Real GDP Nowcast will be published, followed

swiftly by the New York Fed GDP Nowcast at 1615GMT.

     At 1800GMT Baker Hughes US Rig Count figures will hit the wires.

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3809; email: kieran.williams@marketnews.com