Today's Economic Data Highlights

Durable goods, pending home sales, and the usual weekly diet of claims and Fed data….Expect the Fed to monetize $4 – $6 billion of recently auctioned off 2 Year bonds in today's POMO
 
8:30: Durable goods orders for Dec…back up?  Although bookings for aircraft were seasonally weak, we expect increases in other components to dominate this report.
GS: median forecast (of 81): +1.5%, ranging from -3.0% to +3.9%; last -1.3%.
 
8:30: Unemployment insurance claims….consolidation?  After some wild fluctuations—not uncommon during and immediately following the holiday season—claims appear to have settled down to a level consistent with some improvement in labor market conditions relative to a few months ago.  Forecasters are expecting this to continue, though it is worth noting that the Martin Luther King day could distort the numbers to the low side.
For initial claims, median forecast (of 52): 405k, ranging from 375k to 428k; last 404k.
For continuing claims, median forecast (of 16): 3.872 million, ranging from 3.8mm to 4.0mm; last 3.861mm.
 
10:00: Pending home sales index for Dec....will it hold the gain or mean revert?  The median forecast is for another small increase, but we wonder about this given the sharp drop in mortgage purchase applications in recent weeks.  Although we do not forecast pending home sales on a regular basis, in this case we think the report has downside risk versus the median forecast.
Median forecast (of 41): +1.0%, ranging from -3.2% to +5.1%; last +3.5%.
 
16:30: Federal Reserve balance sheet….The balance sheet contracted last week by about $43bn as repayment of loans to AIG overrode ongoing purchases of Treasury securities.  We continue to expect the balance sheet to reach about $2.9trn by midyear, up from $2.428trn in the week ending Wednesday, January 19.

Via Goldman and ZH

Comments

[Oh regional Indian]

Thought this bore repeating...

by Oh regional Indian 
on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 13:50
#906716

As I've read Zh over the past 9 months or so, the daily reporting of debt sales finally started to kick in.

See this and freak out and then come back... I did

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

That is it. The madness, visualized, real. See small business assets and corporate assets shrinking in value, fast.... the writing on the wall, clear as day!

This is how the world runs. This is how the debt fueled world runs/burns. Always living in tomorrow, next year, 10 years out. Knows that fiat is always inflating, deflation is always a temperory correction, so always inflating. IRR/NPV.... would drive both lender and borrower crazy. PErpetual cognitive dissonance on both sides.

Totally nuts! Totally freaking nuts.

The Supply Side World of finance and industry has destruction built into it's fabric. No other way it can survive, because there is NO such thing as infinite growth.

Feels like an AHA moment!

Thanks Zh and all you awesome commentators...

ORI

http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/wisdom-for-warriors-6/

[westboundnup]

Douche chilllllll.

/T. Funke

[firstdivision]

Wow, QE3 is defo about to be announced with those numbers that were released today.