German unemployment for the month is expected to remain unchanged at 7.5%, as the labour market is forecast to contract by 10,000 jobs. Jennifer McKeown, an economist from Capital Economics, said Germany has managed to "defy gravity" with employment continuing to fall, but that she doesn't expect it last.

"We see the number of unemployed rising for the first time since February 2006 in December, although the pick-up might not be sharp enough to prompt an increase in the unemployment rate yet," she wrote.

Following the German unemployment report, markets will shift their focus to inflation in the euro zone. Producer prices are expected to have risen 4.4% from the prior year, but are forecast to have declined 1.0% from the previous month.

Citigroup economist Jürgen Michels said the fall in commodity prices over the past months will continue to contribute to the significant drop in input prices in 2009.

All times in EST.

2:00 GE Wholesale Price Index M/M DEC Exp: -1.8% Prior: -3.3%

2:00 GE Wholesale price Index Y/Y DEC Exp: -2.1% Prior: -0.8%

2:00 GE ILO Unemployment Rate NOV Exp: +7.1% Prior: +7.1%

3:45 IT PMI Services DEC Exp: +39.1 Prior: +39.5

3:55 GE Unemployment Change DEC Exp: +10K Prior: -10K

3:55 GE Unemployment Rate SA DEC Exp: +7.5% Prior: +7.5%

5:00 EU Euro-Zone PPI Y/Y NOV Exp: +4.4% Prior: +6.3%

5:00 EU Euro-Zone PPI M/M NOV Exp: -1.0% Prior: -0.8%

By Steve Stecyk, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Stephen Huebl, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

CEP Newswires - CEP News © 2008. All Rights Reserved. www.economicnews.ca

The Copying, Broadcast, Republication or Redistribution of CEP News Content is Expressly Prohibited Without the Prior Written Consent of CEP News.

A copy of CEP News disclaimer can be found at http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/disclaimer.