1. Japanese Household Spending
2. Euro zone Producer Price Index
3. Canadian Unemployment Change
4. U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls
5. Canadian Ivey PMI

Japanese Overall Household Spending (SEP) (5:00 GMT, 0:00 EST)
Consensus: -1.4%
Previous: 4.8%

Outlook: In August, overall household spending in Japan received a boost from households lead by a salaried worker as wages throughout the country were on the rise. In September, however, it is unlikely that Japanese workers experienced any significant wage increases. As a result, spending in workers' households, and in turn, overall household spending is expected to decline by 1.4% on the month in the face of steep oil prices. Also contributing to the predicted decline is a loss in the consumer confidence index, which has fallen from 48.4 in August to 45.5 in September. Additionally, demand for automobiles has fallen, leading to slower growth in consumer expenditures. Despite the decline in growth, however, the Japanese economy is expected to continue its recovery at a moderate pace as strong corporate expenditures are likely to spill over into personal spending patterns in coming months.

Previous: Overall household spending in the world's second largest economy picked up to a growth rate of 4.8 percent in August, getting a strong push from households headed by a salaried worker. Spending in workers' households, spurred by higher wages and larger summer bonuses, increased by 3.2% on the month. Although sales at large Japanese department stores bottomed in July, they recovered significantly in August, evidencing a rise in spending across the board. Aeon, Japan's largest retailer, for example, has reported a 24.5% gain in operating profits. August's positive spending figure marks the first time in a decade that growth in the Japanese economy has been triggered by consumer and capital expenditures as opposed to exports and government spending.

Eurozone PPI (MoM) (SEP) (10:00 GMT, 5:00 EST)
Consensus: 0.5%
Previous: 0.4%

Outlook: Rising inflation continues to materialize into a significant concern in Europe as the Eurozone Producer Price Index (PPI) is estimated to increase by 0.5 percent in September. Intensifying the concern over this increase is the fact that it follows a 0.4 percent rise in prices the previous month. Surging oil prices have thus far been the largest contributor to inflating input costs for European manufacturers and are likely to weigh in on production as well as consumer costs as we enter the colder winter months. Expectations for September's PPI increase are supported by input cost inflation numbers in Germany, the Eurozone's largest economy. From September of last year, producer prices in Germany have jumped 4.9 percent. Producer prices across Europe are likely to follow as energy costs have surged over 40 percent this year.

Previous: Producer prices in the Eurozone surged by 0.4 percent from July to August and by 4.0 percent from August 2004 to August 2005. On the month, the cost of energy increased by 1.6 percent as the price of crude oil continued to linger near all-time highs. If not for the dramatic increase in energy costs, the Eurozone PPI would have registered a 0.1 percent increase with slight gains in the price of intermediate, capital, and non-durable goods all contributing to the overall inflation. On an annual basis, producer prices would have increased only 1.6 percent from August of last year if not for the huge 15.1 percent increase in energy prices.

Canadian Change in Employment (OCT) (12:00 GMT, 7:00 EST)
Outlook: 20.0K
Previous: -2.3K

Outlook: Canada's unemployment rate is expected to stay stagnant at 6.7 percent with Canadian employers hiring 20,000 workers during the month of October after a net loss of jobs during the month prior. With the economy and the job market continuing to operate close to capacity, filling even more jobs will push the Bank of Canada to raise rates at its next meeting to keep the economy from overheating. As the economy continues to expand, workers will most likely to be able to continue to obtain full time jobs, especially in construction as housing starts are likely to continue growing through the end of the year. Energy companies, armed with huge profits and looking to increase supplies in order to keep up with rising global demand, will be hiring in order to tap into additional reserves in Canada, including extracting the oil sands in the country. These two sectors will help keep Canadian employment on an upward trajection.

Previous: Employers in the country fired 2,300 workers from August to September, but the decline in the labor force by 7,400 caused the fall in the unemployment rate to a 30-year low of 6.7 percent. Fortunately for the loonie, the central bank's concentration is not the loss of jobs in the economy, but rather the dropping unemployment rate. Current concerns center around the fact that the economy is operating near capacity, including in the employment market, and the Bank of Canada sees the overall falling jobless rate as a better indication of this, probably sparking it to raise rates again at its next meeting in October. Also, the net job loss for the month was due to companies firing 21,400 part time workers. They in turn picked up 19,200 full time workers, still generating a net loss but putting the employment market in a much healthier position.

U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls (MoM) (OCT) (13:30 GMT, 8:30 EST)
Consensus: 120K
Previous: -35K

Outlook: After September's drop, nonfarm payrolls are expected to recover in October with a 120,000 gain. As shops in the affected region reopen for business, retail payrolls should recover from the 88,000 drop seen in September. This may lead the service-industry payrolls figure to make a gain in the month after experiencing the first drop since March 2003. However, the risk in this assessment is the October non-manufacturing PMI's third drop in the employment index in the past four months. On the manufacturing side, PMI reported a second consecutive rise in its employment index. Jobless claims have also subsided slightly from September's highs, which further supports a slight rebound in the headline payrolls number. While October's number will be closely examined, keep in mind that the revision to previous data carries much heavier significance this time around. September's decline was tamer than most had hoped, but the uncertainty in the data left room for a sizeable revision, which may alter the rosy picture painted by the initially report figure.

Previous: The much anticipated post-Katrina September payrolls data revealed that only 35,000 jobs were lost in the month compared to expectations for a drop up to ten times that size. This pushed the nation's unemployment rate to 5.1%, up from the recent 4.9% low seen in August. The markets took this news very well since it indicated that the storm disruptions didn't put a significant damper on recent labor market strength and that the economy will bounce back quickly. However, from the comments made by BLS Deputy Commissioner Philip Rones, it seems that there are some worrisome underlying trends. For instance, the 30,000 decline in food and beverage store payrolls was due mainly to industry restructuring and was unrelated to the hurricane. Also, of the 32,000 jobs added by temporary help services, much of them were created to assist in emergency recovery efforts and these positions will probably be phased out shortly. Lastly, although extra care was taken in contacting respondents in the hurricane-affected areas, there could still be large revisions to the headline number in the next release. Although the news was good, this release alone was not enough to imply that the economy is back on track.

Canadian Ivey PMI (OCT) (12:00 GMT, 7:00 EST)
Outlook: 58
Previous: 67.3

Outlook: The Canadian purchasing managers' index published by the Ivey School of Business is expected to have dropped from September's highs but still continue the expansion that has been seen through the entirety of this year with a reading over the expansion threshold of 50. Managers are expected to have scaled back purchases during October. September is a traditionally slow month and after rebuilding inventories from the heavy volume summer months during the first month of fall, October may be lacking action. Also, as oil prices began to come off their soaring highs during the month, prices of purchases in the index probably will not see as large a pop as they did in September and August, although they will probably stay higher than normal indicating the lingering effects of the pressures from these surges. This continuation of growth will give even more support to the Bank of Canada's indications of a series of rate hikes in the near future.

Previous: Business activity in Canada perked up in September with the Ivey PMI showing 67.3, the highest level in about 2 years, versus a 54.1 in August. This was 10.3 points higher than economists had expected. A build up of inventories helped to pull the index up the most, more than making up for a small loss in the employment indicator. Supplier deliveries rebounded as well during the month after hitting a record low the month prior. Despite this spike in the index, economists are pessimistically pointing out that the index is not seasonally adjusted and the build up in inventory that drove up the index is typical of restocking after high summer season sales. The index came in at 66 last September leaving the month's figure essentially unchanged from last year.

Richard Lee is a Currency Strategist at FXCM.