Focus of yesterday's session was on UK GDP data. GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.5% in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2015 compared with growth of 0.4% in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2015. Output increased in 2 of the main industrial groupings within the economy in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2015. Services increased by 0.7% and agriculture increased by 0.6%. In contrast, production decreased by 0.2%, while construction output decreased by 0.1%.
In the US session
durable Goods Orders and
Unemployment Claims figures were released.
Orders for durable, or long-lasting, goods fell 5.1% in December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The drop came after a 12.4% plunge in transportation orders and was worse than the 1.5% forecasted decline in the headline. Excluding transportation, orders fell 1.2% in December. So-called core capital-goods orders fell 4.3%.
Separate report showed that in the week ending January 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 278,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. Analysts were expecting decrease to 281,000. The 4-week moving average was 283,000, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average.
There will be no major data releases from the UK tomorrow. In the US session Advance GDP, Chicago PMI and Revised Consumer Sentiment figures will be published. GDP is expected to grow by 0.8%, Chicago PMI should rose to 45.4, while Consumer Sentiment should show no significant change from prelim reading.
Figures to watch:
Advance GDP (Friday 14:30)
Chicago PMI (Friday 15:15)
Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment (Friday 16:00)
