5 Things to Know in World Business Today

It’s jobs day, euro-area inflation slows, and Apple says all iOS devices exposed to security flaw. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.

Payrolls

At 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, employment data for December are released, with expectations for an increase of 190,000 positions for the month. That would take the total number of new jobs in 2017 to 2.11 million, ahead of analyst forecasts at the start of the year. Unemployment is set to remain at 4.1 percent, with average hourly earnings increasing by 2.5 percent year on year.

Mehflation

This morning’s flash estimate showed that inflation in the euro area remains stubbornly low. The headline rate of 1.4 percent for December is a drop from November’s 1.5 percent, while core inflation remained at 0.9 percent, below analyst estimates for an increase to 1.0 percent. With the ECB’s asset purchase program halving the rate of purchases to €30 billion ($36 billion) this month, analysts see little pressure for further tightening from the central bank amid languishing lowflation.

Security flaw

Apple Inc. said that the chip-security flaws unearthed this week affect all Mac computers and iOS devices including iPhones and iPads, while stressing that there are no known exploits impacting users. While the chip problems are not of Apple’s making, the news comes at an inopportune time for the company already dealing with the fallout from software changes it made that reduce the performance of older iPhones.

Markets rise

Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.5 percent, while Japan’s Topix index closed 0.9 percent higher with steelmakers leading. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index added 0.6 percent at 5:45 a.m. with every major industry sector gaining. S&P 500 futures added 0.3 percent and the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.460 percent. Keep an eye on the two-year Treasury yield today, which is within a gnat’s whisker of trading over 2 percent for the first time in almost a decade.

Coming up…

While U.S. payrolls will grab the headlines, there are plenty of other things to watch for today. At 7:15 a.m., Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard will be on Bloomberg TV, don’t forget that Canada also publishes its jobs numbers at 8:30 a.m., while U.S. durable goods and factory orders numbers for November are due at 10:00 a.m. And at 1:00 p.m., the latest Baker Hughes rig count is released, with analysts watching for any pickup due to the recent oil price rally.