The Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index declined to 46.6 points in January 2020 from 48.7 a month earlier, adding further pressure for stimulus following the worst bushfires and smoke pollution in decades and the coronavirus outbreak. It marked the second straight month of decline following four months of positive prints, as every sub index excluding employment contracted. New orders improved 0.7 pp to 47.5 but remained in contraction, while production declined further (-0.4 pp) to 46.7 points. "The January result represents a deepening of the contraction recorded in December and reflects an underlying sluggishness in local business activity, exacerbated by a summer marred by widespread drought, bushfires and the initial impacts of the Coronavirus,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox.

Japan's nominal cash earnings remained unchanged in December after climbing a downwardly revised 0.1 percent year-on-year in November 2019. Regular pay, which accounts for the bulk of monthly wages, advanced 0.1 percent (vs -0.2 percent in November). On the other hand, one-off special payments declined 0.2 percent after a revised 3.6 percent in climb, while overtime pay declined 2.6 percent (vs -2 percent). Real wages fell 0.9 percent, after falling a downwardly revised 0.6 percent in the prior month. That was the fastest decline since July due to the impact from a 0.8 percent inflation rise in December following a 0.5 percent increase in the previous month.

European stock markets closed in the green for the fourth straight session on Thursday, with banks among the best performers amid strong earnings results. Nordea Bank and UniCredit posted better-than-expected Q4 profits; and Capital Group announced a 3.1% stake in Deutsche Bank while Societe Generale said its profitability will increase in 2020 and that it would introduce a new shareholder remuneration policy. Basic resources and automobile shares were also higher on China’s move to lower tariffs on $75 billion of US goods starting February 14th. The DAX 30 added 96 points, or 0.7% to 13,575; the FTSE 100 gained 22 points, or 0.3% to 7,505; the CAC 40 rose 53 points, or 0.9% to 6,038; the FTSE MIB climbed 254 points, or 1.1% to 24,490, its highest close since May 2018; and the IBEX 35 advanced 94 points, or 1% to 9,811, the highest since July 2018.

Japan's household spending declined 4.8 percent from a year earlier in December 2019, following a 2 percent decline in the previous month. It was the third annual decline in spending in 2019, as consumers cut purchases after a sales tax hike in October and a typhoon disrupted business. Spending declined for furniture & household utensils (-13.3 percent vs -13.1 percent); housing purchases (-17.4 percent vs -4.1 percent); clothing & footwear (-11.1 percent vs -6.8 percent), andfuel, light & water charges (-1.8 percent vs -1.5 percent). In contrast, spending for education fell at a softer rate (-16.6 percent vs -17.1 percent). Meanwhile, consumption for food (-2.1 percent vs 0.2 percent) and recreation & culture (-1.8 percent vs 3.4 percent) declined after rising in November. On a monthly basis, household spending decreased 1.7 percent after rebounding 2.6 percent in November.

Oil prices swung between gains and losses on Thursday, as expectations that a fall in global oil demand resulting from China's coronavirus outbreak more than offset a possible OPEC+ agreement to further cut oil output by 600,000 barrels per day. Crude oil prices were nearly flat at $50.9 per barrel and Brent crude oil decreased 1% to $54.7 per barrel around 2 PM NY time.

Lithium spot prices fell more 70 percent over that last 14 months over concerns that supply is out growing demand, according to spot prices for lithium carbonate, 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, traded in China. Investors expect that new supply from Argentina, Australia, and Chile, could add 500,000 tonnes of lithium to the market per year by 2025 and the demand coming from electric car makers like Tesla or smartphone producers like Apple and Samsung has not been enough to drive prices higher.

Peru's trade surplus widened marginally to USD 1220 million in December 2019 from USD 1999 million in the same month of the previous year. Exports climbed 6.6 percent to USD 4608 million and rebounded from a 4.8 percent drop in November, as sales recovered for traditional products (6.2 percent vs -9.1 percent) whereas those non-traditional products rose further (8.9 percent vs 8.1 percent). Meantime, imports rebounded a sharp 8.5 percent to USD 3388 million following a 5.2 percent decrease in the previous month, amid resurging consumer goods (11.3 percent vs -8.3) and capital (14.2 percent vs 2.3 percent), while intermediate goods advanced moderately (3.2 percent vs -8.5 percent). For the whole of 2019, the trade surplus was USD 6614 million.

Labor productivity in the US non-farm business sector increased by an annualized 1.4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2019, rebounding from a 0.2 percent decline in the previous three-month period and missing market expectations of a 1.6 percent growth, a preliminary estimate showed. Output increased 2.5 percent (vs 2.3 percent in Q3) and hours worked rose 1.1 percent (vs 2.5 percent in Q3). Still, manufacturing sector labor productivity dropped 1.2 percent, as output contracted 1.0 percent while hours worked were up 0.2 percent. Considering 2019 full year, productivity grew 1.7 percent, the most since 2010.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 15 thousand to 202 thousand in the week ending February 1st, from the previous week’s revised level of 217 thousand and against markets expectations of 215 thousand. It is the lowest level since the week ended April 13th 2019. Claims data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. The 4-week moving average was 211,750, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average. According to unadjusted data, the largest declines in jobless claims were reported in California (-1,665), New Jersey (-1,141) and Michigan (-1,001) while the biggest gains were seen in Pennsylvania (+2,552), New York (+1,714) and Texas (+699).