Wednesday brought ADP Employment Change figures.  Private sector employment increased by 177,000 jobs from March to April according to the April ADP National Employment Report. “In April we saw a moderate slowdown from the strong pace of hiring in the first quarter,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Despite a dip in job creation, the growth is more than strong enough to accommodate the growing population as the labor market nears full employment. Looking across company sizes, midsized businesses showed persistent growth for the past six months.”

However, the focus of the session was on FOMC interest rate decision and the following statement. The U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and downplayed weak first-quarter economic growth while emphasizing the strength of the labor market, in a sign it was still on track for two more rate rises this year. In a bullish statement following the end of a two-day policy meeting, the central bank also said consumer spending continued to be solid, business investment had firmed and inflation has been "running close" to the Fed's target.

"The committee views the slowing in growth during the first quarter as likely to be transitory," the Fed said in a unanimous statement. The labor market continued to strengthen even as growth in economic activity slowed and "the fundamentals underpinning the continued growth of consumption remained solid," policymakers added.

On Thursday Unemployment Claims data was published. In the week ending April 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 238,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 257,000. The 4-week moving average was 243,000, an increase of 750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 242,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent for the week ending April 22, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.

Friday's US session was marked by NFP figures. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 211,000 in April. Employment rose in leisure and hospitality, health care and social assistance, financial activities, and mining. In April, leisure and hospitality added 55,000 jobs. Employment in food services and places continued to trend up over the month (+26,000) and has increased by 260,000 over the year. Both the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.1 million, changed little in April. Over the year, the unemployment rate has declined by 0.6 percentage point, and the number of unemployed has fallen by 854,000.

This week markets will be looking at:

PPI (Thursday 14:30)

Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)

CPI (Friday 14:30)

Retail Sales (Friday 14:30)

Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment (Friday 16:00)