Quiet economic calendar

The focus for traders today will be on:

  • New home sales. They will be released at 10 AM ET with estimates of 730K annualized rate. Last month the rate was at 719K. Last week, the the existing home sales came in stronger than expectations. Existing home sales consist of 90+ percent of US home sales with new home sales taking the rest.
  • Dallas Fed manufacturing activity will be released at 10:30 AM ET/1530 GMT for the month of January. The survey estimate is for -1.6 versus -3.2 last month
  • Coronavirus news will also dominate. US stocks and European stocks are sharply lower and focused on the outbreak (Asian shares were also sharply lower). Risk aversion flows are in full effect with gold rising, crude oil prices falling, Bond yields falling and stocks falling. Volatility will continue with the ebbs and flows.
  • The impeachment proceedings proceed in the Senate with Trump's defense team continuing their defense of the president. Over the weekend former national security advisor John Bolton in a leaked look at his book, said that Trump told him he wanted to freeze military aid for Ukraine, already approved by Congress, until Ukraine president Zelensky announce the criminal investigations the son of Joe Biden. However is uncertain whether or not the claim will be admitted as evidence in the impeachment trial or that Bolton will be called on to testify.
  • Battalion yields are sharply lower today after the defeat of good the right wing alliance led by Salvini's Lega party in regional elections. The expensive campaign, failed to wrestle control of the region of Emilia Romagna from the alliance led by the center left Democratic Party. The defeat has slowed the momentum of the Lega party that promised a more expansionary fiscal policy and with it a confrontation with the rest of the euro zone
  • This week, there will be a slew of earnings reports from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, Pfizer, Starbucks, McDonald's, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Honeywell, Caterpillar, Exxon. That's a lot of earnings in what is going to be a very nervous market. Today the calendars gets off to a slower start with DR Horton and Whirlpool announcing