Jobless claims are seen falling marginally after a post-Thanksgiving spike last week but they are seen holding above 550,000 while continuing claims are expected to edge to fresh highs not seen since the early 1970s. (560,000 is the Bloomberg consensus). The Philly Fed survey, which is a decent proxy for the ISM survey, is due out tomorrow at 10 am and should be another grim reminder of the desperate state of US manufacturing amid a downturn both at home and abroad. The Bloomberg consensus is for a decline to 40.2 from 39.3. Maybe the Fed should start buying combines and cold rolled steel in addition to mortgage-backed securities. Last but not least is Leading economic indicators, which are seen falling 0.5%.
With the market more focused on major macro forces like the Fed aggressively adopting quantitative ease, mundane data, no matter how miserable, will likely have minimal impact on the markets near-term.
