Americas
The US jobs report will take center stage. The economy is expected to have added 133K jobs in February, the lowest in four months, while the unemployment rate likely held steady at 4% and wage growth slowed to 0.2% from 0.5%. Other key labor market releases include the ADP Employment Change, Challenger job cuts, and final readings on productivity and unit labor costs. Additionally, the ISM Manufacturing PMI is expected to show a slight slowdown in factory growth, while the ISM Services PMI may indicate stronger expansion. Factory orders likely rebounded 1.5% after a 0.9% drop in January. Traders will also watch final S&P Global PMIs, trade data, and speeches from several Fed officials, particularly Chair Powell’s address at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business 2025 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum. On the earnings front, the season is winding down, but results from Broadcom and Costco Wholesale remain in focus. Elsewhere in the Americas, key data releases include PMIs for Canada, Brazil, and Mexico, along with trade figures and labor market data for Canada, GDP and producer prices for Brazil, and inflation for Mexico.

Europe
Markets will be focused on the European Central Bank’s upcoming meeting on March 6th, where the ECB is expected to deliver a 25-basis-point rate cut, bringing the deposit rate to 2.5%. This would mark the second cut in 2025, amid a weakening growth outlook and easing inflationary pressures. Ahead of the meeting, investors will closely watch Eurozone flash inflation data on March 3rd. Headline inflation is expected to slow to 2.3% year-on-year in February, while core inflation is forecast at 2.6%. In Germany, factory orders are expected to decline following a rebound in December. Unemployment data will also be released for the Euro Area, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Russia. Meanwhile, updated PMIs are due, with Spain and Italy likely to show stronger manufacturing and services activity. Italy will also publish GDP figures, the government budget, and retail sales. In Turkey, inflation is projected to ease to 39.9%, the lowest level since June 2023, ahead of the Central Bank of Turkey’s meeting, where a 250-basis-point cut to 45% is expected. In the UK, attention turns to the Bank of England’s monetary indicators and the Halifax house price index. Other key releases include Euro Area final Q4 GDP and retail sales, France’s balance of trade and industrial production, Italy’s retail sales, Switzerland’s consumer prices, and Turkey’s balance of trade.

Asia and Australia
In China, the spotlight will be on the first session of the National People’s Congress, one day after the start of the Two Sessions, where Premier Li Qiang is expected to announce a 5% growth target this year, in addition to a possible decrease in the inflation target and a higher fiscal deficit to accommodate for earlier stimulus pledges. There will also be many economic releases to digest, with both official and Caixin PMIs kicking off data prints for February. Lastly, the trade balance for January and February will unveil the extent that Chinese firms attempted to undercut tariffs by US President Trump. In Japan, investors await consumer confidence insights for February and labor data for January. Meanwhile, South Korea will post February updates for its PMI and inflation rate. Inflation data is also awaited from Indonesia and the Philippines. In Australia, a busy week of releases will be headlined by the Q4 GDP, set to show a faster growth rate. Other key events include January’s trade balance, building permits, retail sales, and the Ai Group Industry Index.