On Monday, Markit's survey of purchasing managers might show that Chinese manufacturing is growing for the first time in 14 months. The same day, the ISM survey in the US could show manufacturing growth at an eight-month high.
Things might not look so good in the eurozone, though. Purchasing managers' surveys there could confirm flash estimates, which showed economic growth flatlining - consistent with fears that GDP growth is stuck at an annualised rate of around 1 per cent, despite the ECB's belated stimulus efforts. Even here, though, there might also be some good news. Official figures on Wednesday could show another monthly rise in retail sales, implying that sales volumes rose by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter.
In the UK, we might see mixed signals. Purchasing managers might report a pick-up in manufacturing growth but slower growth in services than we saw in the autumn. The big uncertainty here is: is sterling's fall helping the economy or is uncertainty about Brexit depressing it?
Some other US figures might also point to reasonable growth. Friday's employment report could show another 200,000-plus rise in net jobs, with unemployment perhaps falling below 5 per cent. However, figures on Wednesday could show that there's a dark side to this. They could show that productivity fell for a second successive quarter in the first quarter. This means that employment growth tells us not so much that output is growing well, but that companies need more workers if they are to expand output at all.
This is part of a long-term trend - one that also exists in the UK and eurozone. In the last five years, productivity has grown by just 0.4 per cent per year, compared with 2.2 per cent per year in the 60 years to 2007. This means potential GDP growth in the US is much lower now than it was before the crisis.
In this context, some otherwise innocuous figures on Friday will become worrying. The BLS is likely to say that wage growth is stable, at around 2.4 per cent year on year. However, with productivity falling, any wage growth at all means either higher inflation or a squeeze on profit margins - either of which should worry investors.
