MNI European Morning Briefing

     LONDON (MNI) - For those looking to finish early and embrace the weekend,

Friday's calendar will accommodate this goal wrapping up at 1515GMT. 

     Germany's wholesale prices (released at 0700GMT) get the final day of the

week underway with prior m/m and y/y figures of 0.9% and 2.0% respectively.

After a fall in the m/m growth of labour costs in Spain previously of 0.4%, it

will be worth seeing the how labour costs responded this month at 0800GMT. This

is followed at 0900GMT with Italy releasing their final HICP figures with a

previous m/m figure of -0.3% and y/y of 0.7%.

     The BOE's FPC statement at 0930GMT could provide some angles on how

regulators in the UK are looking at Brexit issues. 

     The widely anticipated Euro Area final HICP Inflation Rate and labour costs

comes after this at 1000GMT as a simultaneous release. In the backdrop of the

ECB leaving it's monetary policy stance relatively unchanged, MNI forecasts

suggest the y/y final HICP inflation rate will remain unchanged from its prior

figure of 1.2%. Euro Area labour costs may also be worth looking at with a prior

y/y wda figure of 1.6%.

     Canada's Monthly Survey of Manufacturing data looks set to continue it's

poor form. From a previous figure for monthly manufacturing sales growth of

-0.3, MNI forecasts have analysts pencilling manufacturing sales down 0.9% for

this month. Canada will also at the same time release the International Canadian

Transaction in Securities figures.

     Buckle up for a another busy but short afternoon with the US kicking off at

1230GMT with Housing Starts and Building Permits and the NY Fed Business Leaders

Survey. 

     This is followed by Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization at

1315GMT. Industrial production is expected to rise 0.4% in February after a 0.1%

decline in the previous month, with manufacturing production expected to post a

modest increase. Capacity utilization is forecast to rise to 77.8% from 77.5% in

January. 

     February data over the last 20 years include 11 overestimates which

averaged 0.28 percentage point and eight underestimates that averaged 0.31

percentage points. The absolute average miss was 0.28 percentage point, roughly

the same as in the previous month. In more recent years, the absolute average

miss was 0.32 with seven overestimates, including the most recent three years,

and only three underestimates, suggesting a lower-than expected reading is

possible.

     Moving to employment data sees the double release of the Openings Level and

the Quits Rate from the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey at 1400GMT.

Prior Openings Level Index was at 5811 and the Quits Rate previously was at

2.2%. 

     The University of Michigan Sentiment index (released at 1400GMT) is

expected to dip to 99.0 in early-March from 99.7 in February, reflecting some of

the recent market volatility. Figure 2 below shows the last 6 months of the

sentiment index.

     Finally, the US closes the day with the St Louis Fed Real GDP Nowcast at

1500GMT, followed shortly after with the NY Fed GDP Nowcast at 1515GMT. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com