Stock Market Watch

U.S. Economic Calendar Event Update – Jan 24

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These are the U.S. economic calendar events for Thursday, January 24, 2013. All times are EST.

Continuing Claims for the week ending on 01/12 are scheduled to be released at 8:30 AM. Analysts are estimating a result of 3200K. The prior period for Continuing Claims had a result of 3214K. This event has a moderate effect on US markets.

Initial Claims for the week ending on 01/19 are scheduled to be released at 8:30 AM. Analysts are estimating a result of 355K. The prior period for Initial Claims had a result of 335K. This event has a moderate effect on US markets.

Leading Indicators for Dec are scheduled to be released at 10:00 AM. Analysts are estimating a result of 0.5%. The prior period for Leading Indicators had a result of -0.2%. This event has a low effect on US markets.

Crude Inventories for the week ending on 01/19 are scheduled to be released at 11:00 AM. The prior period for Crude Inventories had a result of -0.951. This event has a low effect on US markets.

At the release of important events, US equity markets (INDEXSP:.INX) can make major moves. Be sure to keep an eye on S&P (NYSEARCA:SPY), Nasdaq (NYSEARCA:QQQ) and Dow Jones (NYSEARCA:DIA) at the time of announcements.

Here is some more information about the events discussion in this article.

Continuing Claims: An indicator derived from weekly unemployment data used to gauge the current state and direction of employment. The data, supplied by the Department of Labor, consists of those people who have filed a claim and who are still receiving benefits. Critics point to the volatility of the data which makes it somewhat imprecise as a snapshot of employment conditions. When combined with other indicators onto a four-week moving average, it provides a clearer indication.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/continuing-An indicator derived from weekly unemployment data used to gauge the current state and direction of employment. The data, supplied by the Department of Labor, consists of those people who have filed a claim and who are still receiving benefits. Critics point to the volatility of the data which makes it somewhat imprecise as a snapshot of employment conditions. When combined with other indicators onto a four-week moving average, it provides a clearer indication.

Initial Claims: Initial jobless claims measure the number of filings for state jobless benefits. This report provides a timely, but often misleading, indicator of the direction of the economy, with increases (decreases) in claims potential signalling slowing (accelerating) job growth. On a week-to-week basis, claims are quite volatile, and many analysts therefore track a four week moving average to get a better sense of the underlying trend. It typically takes a sustained move of at least 30K in claims to signal a meaningful change in job growth.

There are two other statistics in this report — the number of people receiving state benefits and the insured unemployment rate; neither is watched closely by the market. Some analysts track the number of people receiving state benefits from month to month as a guide for job growth, though this series has a poor track record in predicting the monthly employment report. The insured unemployment rate changes little on a weekly basis and is never a factor for the market.

Leading Indicators: The Leading Indicators report is, for the most part, a compendium of previously announced economic indicators: new orders, jobless claims, money supply, average workweek, building permits, and stock prices. Therefore, the report is extremely predictable and of very little interest to the market. Though this series does have some predictive qualities, it is a common criticism that it has predicted “nine of the last six” recessions.

The Commerce Department recently privatized the leading indicators series. The collection and publishing of these data is now done by the non-profit Conference Board, which also produces the consumer confidence index.

Crude Inventories: Measure of inventories of crude oil stored for future use. The figure relies on the Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Crude Oil Report which surveys companies that store 500 or more barrels of crude oil. Because companies with smaller stores are excluded, the figure systematically underestimates actual crude oil stores. Nonetheless, the report is significant as changes in crude oil inventories provide insight into oil demand and prices. A significant decrease in inventories suggests the supply of oil is possibly strained, which puts upward pressure on oil prices. Any increase in oil prices will act as an inflationary pressure as increased oil prices are fed through the economy. But because any affects of Oil Stocks would take some time to feed through the economy, the report typically does not affect the market. The figure is reported monthly, either in thousands of barrels per month or as a percentage change from the previous month.

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Alex Fredricks
Post Written By: Alex Fredricks
Alex Fredricks has a degree in business and is an avid day-trader. Alex’s experience and love for the game of the markets is shown not only in his posts, but the post he helps edit for other authors on our staff.

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Alex Fredricks

Alex Fredricks has a degree in business and is an avid day-trader. Alex's experience and love for the game of the markets is shown not only in his posts, but the post he helps edit for other authors on our staff.

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