In the week ended February the 27th, initial claims fell by 29 000 from an upwardly revised 498 000 to 469 000, close to the consensus estimate. Continuing claims, which are reported with an extra week lag, surprised on the downside of expecta-tions. In the week ended February the 20th, continuing claims, fell by 134 000 to a to-tal number of 4 500 000. The decline might indicate that claims are moving back to normal levels after they were distorted by the backlog problems in California and the recent snowstorms.
In January, US pending home sales unexpectedly dropped after a slight increase in December. On a monthly basis, pending home sales fell by 7.6% M/M, while and in-crease by 1.0% M/M was expected. The previous figure was slightly downwardly re-vised from 1.0% M/M to 0.8% M/M. The details show that weakness was widely spread as all regions posted a drop in pending home sales. The group added how-ever that abnormal weather conditions hurt sales. In the coming months, the expanded and extended tax credit is expected to support sales.
In January, factory orders came out close to expectations rising by 1.7% M/M, while the previous figure was significantly upwardly revised. Non-durable orders rose by 0.9% M/M, while durable orders gained 2.6% M/M. Excluding transportation, factory orders increased only marginally (0.1% M/M). An increase in both inventories and shipments left the inventory/shipments ratio unchanged at 1.29. This was the fifth consecutive increase in inventory orders, the longest gaining streak since 2008.
EMU: Q4 GDP growth was only supported by exports
The preliminary estimate of euro zone fourth quarter GDP confirmed the first es-timate, which showed that growth slowed. In the fourth quarter, GDP expanded by 0.1% Q/Q from 0.4% Q/Q in Q3. The breakdown shows a positive contribution from net-exports as imports rose by 0.9% Q/Q, while exports increased by 1.7% Q/Q. Both household spending and inventories were flat, while gross fixed capital forma-tion (-0.8% M/M) and government spending (-0.1% Q/Q) were a drag on growth. The breakdown shows a fragile euro zone economy as growth was only supported by exports.
