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Welcome to today’s Money Minute.
In the UK today, Halifax releases its latest survey on house prices. Last week, rival lender Nationwide reported that annual house price growth came in at 0.6% in the year to August. Figures from the Halifax have tended to be more volatile in recent months but they are likely to confirm the same broad message as those from Nationwide – that price growth is slowing.
In the US, we get one of the most important data releases of the month – the US nonfarm payrolls figures. This shows the state of the US jobs market for the month of August. There are two key numbers to watch.One, the number of jobs added during the month, which is expected to come in at 165,000. And two, the annual rate of wage growth, which is expected to come in at 3.2%.
If either or both of these figures beat expectations, it might make it harder for the Federal Reserve to justify cutting interest rates at its next meeting in mid-September. But if the figures come in below expectations, investor concerns about a pending recession will grow.