We'd expect the construction sector to suffer especially badly from uncertainty as firms postpone expansion plans. And this is just what Friday's purchasing managers' survey could show. Unless there's been a massive turnaround in the last month, it will reveal that output and orders are falling. Similarly, the same postponement of some capital spending might cause Thursday's survey of purchasing managers to show that manufacturing output is also falling.
It's not just companies who are postponing big spending, though. So too are households. Last month's figures from the Bank of England showed that mortgage approvals for house purchase fell by 11.7 per cent between January and June. We might see a further drop in Tuesday's data.
It's not all gloom though. Other Bank data could show that lending to companies is rising, implying that at least some firms are investing more. And they could show that consumer credit growth is accelerating, which might be a sign that consumers anticipate better times ahead.
Another reason for optimism is that the global economy seems to be picking up in parts. In China, purchasing managers on Thursday could confirm last month's finding that manufacturing output is growing after almost 18 months of falls. And in Japan, Wednesday's numbers could show a second successive monthly rise in industrial production.
We should also see signs of growth in the US. The ISM survey should report another expansion in manufacturing. Non-farm payrolls could rise by 200,000 (although this partly reflects stagnant productivity and not strong output growth). And on Tuesday the Conference Board could report that consumer confidence has risen to a 14-month high; this should suggest that July's drop in retail sales was just a blip.
Also on Tuesday, S&P is likely to report that house prices have risen by just over 5 per cent in the past 12 months; the rate has been stable for months. This is sufficiently high to suggest buyers have confidence in the US economy, but not so high as to jeopardise financial stability.
We might, however, see signs of rising inflation. Friday's figures could show that hourly earnings have risen by 2.7 per cent in the past 12 months, the biggest increase since 2009. This would fuel expectations of a rise in interest rates later this month.
In the euro area, Wednesday's numbers could show that core CPI inflation (the rate excluding food and inflation) is flat at 0.8 per cent - well below the ECB's target of “close to” two per cent. We'll see a reason for this the same day: unemployment is still high, at just over 10 per cent of the workforce.
