Last week, the European Central Bank (ECB) admitted less urgency in its fight with deflation, mostly because there is no deflation. At the same time, we gathered that the US economy created more jobs than was expected, clearing the way for an imminent rate rise.

This week’s news is all about China with reports on both the manufacturing and services PMI.

Last week's composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey for the eurozone was packed full of good-ish news.

Last week saw inflation fall a little short of expectations. However, we are noticing a wider and wider range of forecasts for inflation over the course of the next year or so.

Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia left the Cash Rate unchanged at 1.5 percent and, at the same time, painted a relatively benign outlook for 2017. Meanwhile, an update on the UK's trade position presents us with some improvement but leaves us still with a whacking deficit.

Last week’s figures noted the US economy adding many more jobs than was expected during January. Meanwhile Chinese manufacturing output wasn’t quite as buoyant as was expected.

Mark Miller joins Helm Godfrey to focus on business development.

The week commencing 16 January brought higher-than-expected inflation in the UK and precisely-as-expected growth from China.

Last week brought news of a wider British trade deficit and a marginal decrease in the University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment.

The first full week of the new year brought good news in the form of solid manufacturing numbers out of China. Over in the US, non-farms payroll data disappointed a little but wages are rising at a healthy pace.