The FOMC's minutes from the Dec. 15 and 16 meeting is the main scheduled economic event of the day, but the ISM's services index for the United States and the National Association of Realtors' U.S. pending homes sales are not be ignored as market participants continue to gauge the health of the world's largest economy.
Kicking off the day at 8:30 a.m. EST, Canadians will look forward to the raw material and industrial product price indexes for November. The consensus is pointing to a 1.1% month-over-month decline in IPPI following a flat reading in October, while raw material prices are expected to decline 8.5% month-over-month after a previous 12.5% decline.
At 10 a.m. EST, the Institute for Supply Management will release its non-manufacturing index for December. The consensus points to a decline to 36.5 from 37.3 previously. Markets will also pay attention to the new orders, prices paid, and employment indexes, which were 35.4, 36.6 and 31.3, respectively in November.
At the same time, the U.S. National Association of Realtors will release pending home sales for November, which are expected to decline 1.0% month-over-month following a 0.7% decline the month prior.
Also at 10 a.m. EST will be the release of November's factory orders, which are expected to drop 2.3% on the month following a previous 5.1% fall, but more importantly could be the revisions to the durable goods report. In November, durable goods orders decreased 1.0% on the month, while orders excluding transportation rose 1.2% and non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft rose 4.7%.
At 10:30 a.m. EST, the Bank of Canada will sell C$18.0 billion in various short-term bills.
At 11:15 a.m. EST, the Bank of Canada will buy back C$500 million of various government paper.
At 11:30 a.m. EST, the U.S. Treasury will sell $24 billion in four-week bills.
At 1 p.m. EST the U.S. Treasury will auction $8 billion U.S. 10-year inflation protected bonds.
The FOMC minutes from the Dec. 15 and 16 meeting could be the main event for the day, particularly given the fact that the Fed took the unprecedented decision to reduce rates to a range of 0.0% to 0.25% for the first time in history and hammered out an aggressive arsenal of alternative tools to further stimulate the economy. The release is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST.
At 5 p.m. EST, ABC will release its consumer comfort index for the week ending Jan. 4. In the previous week, the index was at -49.
7:45 US ICSC Chain Store Sales W/E Jan 3 Y/Y Prior : -1.8%
8:30 CA Industrial Product Price M/M NOV Exp: -1.1% Prior: 0.0%
8:30 CA Raw Materials Price Index M/M NOV Exp: -8.5% Prior: -12.5%
8:55 US Redbook Retail Sales W/E Jan 3 Y/Y Prior : -0.4%
10:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite DEC Exp: +36.5 Prior: +37.3
10:00 US Factory Orders NOV Exp: -2.3% Prior: -5.1%
10:00 US Pending Home Sales M/M NOV Exp: -1.0% Prior: -0.7%
11:30 US to Sell $24 Billion in 4-Week Bills
13:00 US to Sell $8 Billion in 10-Year TIPS
14:00 US Fed Releases Minutes from Dec. 15-16 FOMC Meeting
17:00 US ABC Consumer Confidence Week Ending 4-Jan Prior: -49
By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Nancy Girgis
©CEP News Ltd. 2009