Yesterday's session brought Australian Building Approvals and Trade Balance data. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Building Approvals show that the number of dwellings approved fell 1.9% in November 2015, in trend terms, and has fallen for eight consecutive months. In seasonally adjusted terms approvals fell by 12.7%, missing forecasts on 2.8% decline. The value of total building approved fell 0.8% in November, in trend terms, and has fallen for four consecutive months. The value of residential building fell 1.2% while non-residential building was flat.
Separate report showed that in trend terms, the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $2,953m in November 2015, an increase of $172m (6%) on the deficit in October 2015.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $2,906m in November 2015, a decrease of $341m (11%) on the deficit in October 2015. This was below expected deficit of $2,980m. Goods and services credits rose $160m (1%) to $26,764m,while debits fell $182m (1%) to $29,670m.
In the US session Unemployment Claims figures were released.In the week ending January 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 277,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 287,000. Analysts were anticipating decline to 271,000. The 4-week moving average was 275,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 277,000.
Tomorrow's session will be marked by Retail Sales data. Incline by 0.4% is anticipated. In the US session NFP figures are scheduled for a release. Analysts are expecting increase by 203,000 in number of employed and unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 5.0%.
Figures to watch:
Retail Sales (Friday 1:30)
Non-Farm Employment Change/Average Hourly Earnings/Unemployment Rate (Friday 14:30)
