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.
Tomorrow's session will bring Public Sector Net Borrowing figures as well as results of CBI survey on Realized Sales. Net borrowing is expected to grow to 14.1 billion pounds, while analysts are forecasting balance of +30% in Realized Sales. There will be no major data releases in the US session.
Figures to watch:
Public Sector Net Borrowing (Friday 10:30)
CBI Realized Sales (Friday 12:00)
