Today's Economic Data Docket - Initial Claims And New Home Sales

Another slow day on the economic docket, with just C-grade indicators like Initial Claims and New Home sales due, which means that more gossip, innuendo, and outright lies out of Europe and Greece will determine the direction of the EURUSD, and thus the Russell 2000, better known as the US economy.

8:30: Jobless claims--continued improvement?  Last week saw 414,000 new claims, equal to the lowest reading over the past eight weeks and consistent with reasonable job growth, but still somewhat above the 380,000-390,000 levels that prevailed through much of February and March.  Another 400K+ print will be the 11th consecutive week in the "net job loss" bucket. Continuing claims--the total number of people in their first 26 weeks of jobless benefits--surged higher in late April but have resumed their steady and slow downtrend since; at 3.675 million in the week of June 3, they are almost back to their mid-April low.

9:45: Bloomberg consumer confidence indicator - formerly the Washington Post/ABC index, this weekly barometer of consumer confidence is roughly in the middle (-44) of the -40 to -50 range it's been in all year.

10:00 New home sales  -- a small decline?  Goldman expects a 4% drop in May new home sales, in line with the consensus forecast--though as always the bank cautions this can be a volatile indicator, and its forecasted change this month is equivalent to only about one thousand home sales in the entire country (not annualized).  This would put May sales at a 310,000 annual rate, just over their average for the past year.

19:00: Fed's Evans opens conference on state fiscal issues.  Chicago Fed President Evans will give welcoming remarks at a conference at the bank on state fiscal issues; this is not expected to include remarks on the economy or monetary policy.

Comments

[hugovanderbubble]

The Truth...

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/ventadeviendasnuevasusa.jpg/

[hugovanderbubble]

Sell all Belgian Bonds

KBC bank is in default the same as Dexia.

Get Long Belgium CDS 2,5,10 yrs.

Belgium has sold all gold reserves, the same has done Portugal in 2010...

[mynhair]

Congrats, ZH!  You're on newsbusters.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2011/06/23/ap-coverage-bernankes...

[spanish inquisition]

A few states are getting close to shutdown territory (NJ, MN and IA). I wonder if Evans will joke at the beginning of his speech "Well, the reason we are here is that states can't print money. haha"

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711

[AssFire]

We don't need no water, let the mother fucker burn.