Quote:
‘There’s no job open to women more demanding than being the wife of a billionaire.’ Germaine Greer (1939-)
The News:
Israeli artillery fires into Lebanon in response to rocket attacks from there.
The Numbers:
Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
07:00 DE November Trade Balance +€9.7B, Current Account +€8.6B, versus revised +€16.4B and +€14.3B October.
10:00 EZ15 November Unemployment (7.7% to 7.8% versus 7.7% October).
10:00 EZ15 December Business Climate Indicator (-2.95 to –2.50 versus –2.14 November).
10:00 EZ15 December Consumer Confidence (-29 to –24, Economic 69 to 73, Industry –31 to –27, Services –17 to –13, versus –25, 74.9, -25 and -12 November)
10:00 EZ15 Q3 final GDP (-0.2% Q/Q and +0.6% Y/Y versus –0.2% and +0.6%).
11:00 DE November Factory Orders (-2.8% to +0.8% M/M, -21.2% to –17.2% Y/Y, vs –6.1% and –17.3% October).
12:00 Bank of England’s interest rate decision (most expect a cut of either 50 or 100 basis points from 2.00%).
13:30 US Weekly Jobless Claims (480K to 580K, Continuing Claims 4400K to 4500K, vs 492K and 4506K prior week).
15:00 CA December Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (35 to 40 versus 40.2 November).
19:00 SK ECB’s Trichet speaks at Euro-adoption ceremony, Bratislava.
20:00 US November Consumer Credit (-$5B to +$6.9B versus -$3.5B October).
21:00 US Fed’s Hoenig speaks on the US economic outlook, Colorado; Rosengren at 00:30 in Massachusetts.
The Psychology:
Markets testing recent ranges and setting up to break out, probably next week.
The Risk:
Stock markets slip a little further.
Today’s most interesting chart: FTSE 100
Retreating from retracement resistance yet again, like most other indices.
