Jobs Report, Food-Supply Problems, Inflation Surprises: Eco Day

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Welcome to Friday, Americas. Here's the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

It's U.S. jobs day. Bloomberg Economics expects the non-farm payroll report to show a solid pickup in December hiring and a decline in the unemployment rate to levels nearing the Fed's long-run neutral rate
- Treasuries are off to their worst-ever start to a year and there's every prospect Friday's payrolls data will cause the selloff to accelerate
Federal Reserve policy makers could start to raise their target interest rate as soon as March and shrink the central bank's balance sheet as a next step in response to surging inflation, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said
The highly contagious omicron virus variant is disrupting already stressed food supply chains, sickening so many workers that more shortages at grocery stores are all but certain
Chile's consumer prices rose more than expected for the sixth straight month as billions of dollars in pandemic spending stoked a record-breaking economic boom
Peru raised interest rates for a sixth month as inflationary pressure mounts amid the economy's strong rebound from the pandemic
Argentina raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than a year as it faces calls from the International Monetary Fund to tighten monetary policy
Inflation in the euro region accelerated beyond already record levels, defying expectations for a slowdown and complicating the task for European Central Bank officials who insist the current spike is temporary
Mario Draghi's possible shift to become Italy's president risks reminding investors how the country is never far away from political instability
China's central bank has fueled expectations it will ease monetary policy early this year with its vow to take proactive action to stabilize growth in 2022. A growing number of economists are predicting it will cut banks' required reserves as well as policy interest rates in the first quarter
- China's strict Covid-19 strategy is set to inflict more economic pain