The day began with the Australian employment change data continuing to show the strength of the labour market, recording the longest pace of hiring in 23 years, and pushing the unemployment rate to its lowest level since February 2013 at 5.4%.
Although less than expected jobs were added in October, which estimated only new 3,700 jobs versus expectations of 17.8K jobs, the data showed that the economy added 300,000 jobs this year to date, the strongest performance in the same period historically.
In the UK, retail sales posted its first annualized decline since 2013 in October by 0.3%, the biggest drop in retail sales since March 2013. On a monthly basis, retail sales rose by 0.3%, meanwhile forecasts indicated a 0.6% decline.
Consumption is expected to slow, especially after the Bank of England earlier this month raised interest rates for the first time in 10 years to 0.50% due to the continued rise in inflation figures, which reached their highest level in five years.
Euro zone inflation data today supported the ECB's recent cautious stance on its monetary stimulus program. The consumer price index rose by 1.4% in October as expected, also the core index rose by 0.9% as expected.
The data comes almost a month after the ECB cut its bond purchase program to 30 billion a month from January to September 2018. The program will continue until the bank sees sustainability in growth of inflation towards target levels of 2%.
US lawmakers are due to vote on a tax cut bill today. Republicans unveiled a new plan on Tuesday that would guarantee permanent cuts to US companies but a temporary reduction for individuals and small businesses.
Republicans hope to renew the tax bill before the end of this year, so they can retain power in Congressional elections in November 2018. So far, Trump and the Republicans have not been able to achieve major legislative victories this year but appear to be on the way to one here.
In the end, the Senate and House tax plans must be reconciled and merged into a final plan before Trump signs it into law.
