FYI | Dec 08 2007
By Greg Peel
On Tuesday night the Fed will announce its rate decision, which will likely be a 25 point cut. That might be slightly disappointing for the market, while a less likely 50 point cut would be very well received. That’s the last of the discussion.
There is still quite of lot of economic data out this week in the US, beginning with October pending home sales on Monday. On Tuesday we have October wholesale inventories, and on Wednesday the October trade balance and November import prices. The trade balance will be an interesting one, providing some insight as to whether growing US exports could yet be a recession saver as many suggest.
Thursday brings October business inventories, the November PPI and – very importantly – November retail sales. Has the Grinch stolen Christmas? Also important is Friday’s November CPI, along with November industrial production and capacity. Volatility may have diminished as last week drew to a close, but there’s still some potential movers amongst those numbers.
After all the hullabaloo about last week’s US jobs number, this week sees the Aussie figures. Australia’s week kicks off with October housing finance and the November ANZ jobs survey on Monday. Tuesday brings the NAB business survey for November, and Wednesday the Westpac-MI consumer confidence index for November. Isn’t it nice the way the big banks share the data gathering around?
Thursday is jobs day, with employment/unemployment promising to be important ahead of the will they-won’t they February RBA decision. In January the team is on hols, so we have two and a half long months of tossing this one around. Along with jobs, Thursday sees third quarter dwelling starts and the Melbourne Institute inflation survey for December. There’s too many Christmas parties on on Friday to warrant any releases (including FNArena’s – let the good times roll!).
The only other real point of interest will be the release of the Chinese November industrial production figure, expected on Thursday.
There’s not a lot on the Aussie corporate front this week, outside of a couple of minor AGMs and Asciano’s ((AIO)) trading update on Tuesday. Most stock analysts are either off on junkets – sorry, tours of corporate assets – or hung over. Don’t expect much in the way of research.
