(Updates after weekend election in Chile, adds payrolls data

release date)

Nov 17 (Reuters) - The task of clearing the huge backlog

of shutdown-delayed U.S. data begins, the world's most valuable

company Nvidia ( NVDA ) publishes its results and new inflation numbers

will keep Europe's central banks on their toes.

Over in Asia, new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's

fiscal policy is taking shape, and Chile holds an election in

Latin America where pollsters are predicting another step to the

right.

Here's your market week ahead from Dhara Ranasinghe and

Amanda Cooper in London, Kevin Buckland in Tokyo and Lewis

Krauskopf and Rodrigo Campos in New York.

1/CLEARING THE BACKLOG

U.S. government number crunchers begin the task of

shovelling out the backlog of data not released during

Washington's unprecedented 43-day shutdown.

Traders will be getting the non-farm payrolls report for

September on Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has

announced. The original release was planned for October 3,

shortly after the shutdown began.

Private data that has been published has suggested the

labour market continues to weaken. That supports the case for a

December Federal Reserve rate cut. Officials are warning,

though, that some data may have been lost forever, meaning the

economic fog might take time to clear.

2/AI CATCHING

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly report on Wednesday will be a

critical test for the high-flying AI trade that has started to

make some spluttering noises in recent weeks.

The semiconductor giant became the world's first $5 trillion

company last month. It has lost a bit since, but with a

staggering 8% weighting in the S&P 500 and major clout in many

global indexes, it can easily sway markets on its own.

The AI bellwether's forecasts and the broader industry

perspective will have ramifications for the wider tech

ecosystem. It is going to either ease or feed those nagging

investor concerns that this is already the next big bubble.

3/LEVERS OF POWER

After initially suggesting it would leave monetary policy

largely to its central bank, Japan's new government is now

signalling a more hands-on approach.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is looking to loosen the

fiscal reins and urging the Bank of Japan to go slow on raising

rates, while new Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has argued

inflation is yet to sustainably hit the BoJ's 2% target.

The bank still looks primed for a hike in December, although

Governor Kazuo Ueda has been cautious about pulling the trigger.

Consumer price data due on November 21 should offer clues, but

it could well be the crumpled yen that holds the key.

If its weakness affects politically sensitive food and

energy prices, Takaichi may have no choice but to accept some

speedy rate hikes.

4/HAPPY PLACE

It must be nice to be the European Central Bank right now.

President Christine Lagarde says it is "in a good place" with

interest rates and money markets having switched to autopilot,

pricing in no move at all next year.

The coming week brings a raft of October inflation numbers,

for both individual countries and the euro zone as a whole. Core

consumer inflation was 2.4% in September, up from 2.3% in August

but down from 2.7% last September.

The headline number has stayed around the ECB's 2% target

for most of the year, however, and if the trade-weighted euro's

5.5% 2025 rise starts to drag it lower at any

point Frankfurt would have room to cut again.

But the jury is out for now.

5/HOT CHILE

The first round of Chile's presidential election on Sunday

was won by the leftist coalition candidate Jeannette Jara. But

pollsters expect the race to now swing to the right in the

run-off in a month's time after far-right candidate Jose Antonio

Kast secured a strong second place and three other right-wing

runners scooped up plenty of votes, too.

A win for Kast in the December 14 head-to-head versus Jara -

assuming those other right-wing votes migrate to him - would put

in place a Chilean administration further to the right than any

since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship of the 1980s.

Almost as important is the concurrent congressional

election. A win in both houses would mark the first such result

since the 1950s and most likely be lapped up by investors who

expect corporate tax cuts if Kast does go on to win the

presidency.

The peso has strengthened nearly 7% year-to-date and

equities in both dollar and peso terms have soared over 40% -

and traders are eyeing where it goes next.

(Graphics by Pasit Kongunakornkul. Compiled by Marc Jones.

Editing by Mark Potter)