With the Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes showing a divide between policymakers over how fast interest rates need to rise this year, official US jobs data will be closely eyed on Friday.
The US non-farm payrolls report is expected to show employers added 188,000 jobs in December, compared to 228,000 in November.
The jobless rate is forecast to remain at 4.1%.
Average hourly earnings growth is expected to accelerate to 0.3% month-on-month in December from 0.2% in November, while the year-on-year increase is projected to remain at 2.5%.
A strong jobs report could support the case for another rate hike as the Fed assesses the health of the labour market in making its policy decisions.
Minutes of the December policy meeting, when the central bank raised interest rates for the third time last year, revealed that officials were divided on the pace of further hikes.
A few policymakers said rate rises should be gradual, raising concerns about sluggish wage growth and inflation remaining below the Fed's 2% target.
Others suggested the pace of rate increases should be "somewhat faster" than the three the Fed has forecast on worries that "continued low interest rates risked financial instability in the future, or that the labour market was increasingly tight".
Fed officials Timothy Harker and Loretta Mester might share their views on the path for interest rates when they speak at separate events on Friday.
The US economic calendar also includes the ISM's composite purchasing managers' index on services and manufacturing activity along with data on trade and durable goods orders.
Closer to home, there is little on the UK agenda with no companies due to report earnings and the only notable economic releases including the BRC shop price index, new car registrations data and a report on unit labour costs.
UK economic data: BRC shop price index, new car registrations, unit labour costs
International economic data: US non-farm payrolls, ISM composite PMI, Eurozone inflation, US durable goods orders, US Baker Hughes rig count