Tainted Alpha

I was away from the computer and away from the markets, so let me recap most important developments.

• MBA purchase applications were up 0.8% vs. 3.6% the week before.
• Retail sales in December disappointed coming out at -0.3% vs. 0.4% consensus and 1.3% in November.
• Initial jobless claims edged up reaching 444.000 vs. 437.000 consensus and 434.000 the week before.
• Business inventories rose 0.4% in November vs. o.2% consensus and 0.2% in October.
• CPI for December came right at the consensus of 0.1% vs. 0.4% in November.
• Industrial production for December also right at the consensus of 0.6% vs. 0.8% in November.
• Capacity utilization rate was at 72% in December vs. 71.9 % consensus and 71.3 % in November.
• Consumer confidence for January was at 72.8 vs. 74.0 consensus and 72.5 in December.

All in all stagnation all over data; deflation a serious possibility; U.S. economy still losing  job; Consumer confidence pointing to possible further weakness.

Business Inventories, Consumer Confidence, Industrial Production, Initial Jobless Claims, MBA Purchase Applications, Retail Sales, U.S. Capacity Utilization Rate, U.S. Consumer Price Index

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 3:00 am and is filed under Markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.