Key Highlights
- A long-absent readout on the national employment picture is due for release later, with payrolls updates from both October and November and an unemployment rate just for the latter - with a hole in the jobless rate series for the first time since 1948.
- A one-two on payrolls tallies - a hit to October from the government shutdown and a recovery last month - is the consensus forecast, with the jobless rate expected to emerge steady at 4.4% for November.
- The likely noisy data will fill in most gaps in the Federal Reserve's and investors' view of the jobs market but also leave enough questions to keep markets guessing on next year's interest rate trajectory.
- Retail sales updates for October are also due.
- As it stands, futures markets price just a one-in-four chance of another Fed rate cut next month and another quarter point move is not fully priced until June.
