Stocks were mixed in Asian trade. The Nikkei was as strong as any overnight with a gain of 1.44% and the Hang Seng as well as Australia showed a fractional increase, but Shanghai was down by a half percent. European indexes are generally higher with the Dax currently up more than one percent and the Footsie with a gain of 0.7%. US stock futures are up almost a half percent.*The November reading of German Factory Orders were up five times as much as they were expected to be with a gain of 5.2% on a month on month basis.
*The December reading of Switzerland’s Consumer Price Index is unchanged on a month on month basis and +0.5% year on year; both results were one tenth higher than forecast.
*The December reading of the UK service sector PMI was surprisingly weak, down more than three points to 49.7, a decline of only a couple of tenths was expected. While this is the first sub-fifty reading in a year and a half, the index has dropped in seven of the last ten months. The weather is being blamed for the December weakness.
*The chain stores are reporting on their December same store sales this morning. Some of the early results include: Bon Ton Stores +0.1%; Limited Brands +8% and The Buckle +6.1.
*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CST, it is expected to be 408k.
*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due out at 9:30am CST, it is forecast to be a decline of 131 bcf.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 1/31/15 and 6/30/16; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.
No comments:
Post a Comment