In the US session Unemployment Claims and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index data was released. In the week ending December 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 289,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. Analysts were predicting increase to 297,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 294,000 to 295,000.
Philly Fed Manufacturing Index decreased 16 points, from a reading of 40.8 in November to 24.5 this month, below expectations on a decline to 26.3. The new orders and current shipments indexes also weakened significantly. The demand for manufactured goods, as measured by the current new orders index, decreased 20 points, from a reading of 35.7 last month to 15.7 this month. Shipments also fell, with its index falling 16 points to 16.1. Despite these declines from November, all the broad current activity indexes show a positive trend over the course of the current year.
We expect a steadier session tomorrow as there will be no data releases both from Australia and USA. Also, traders will slowly slide into holiday trading so we cannot expect any large movements. However, we would pay attention to gold and iron ore markets.
