Stock futures are mixed ahead of a light Thursday. Aside from the weekly jobless claims report, only one other release is on the schedule and it’s the final revision to Q1 GDP. With markets characteristically looking ahead the revisions for January to March are unlikely to carry much weight.
However, at 10:00 Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will face questions about the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. Given that it’s just a day after the Fed’s latest policy statement, it’s unlikely Bernanke will speak on the economic outlook, but a poor performance on the issue of whether the central bank pressured BofA to make a deal could hurt the credibility of the Fed; moreover, questions are also being raised about Bernanke’s re-appointment in January 2010.
Key Releases:
8:30 ― No revisions are expected Q1 GDP release, which showed a contraction of 5.7% in the preliminary reading last month, compared to -6.1% in the advance forecast. Recent data has indicated that foreign trade improved more than initial expectations, but that should be offset by reduced inventories.
8:30 ― The weekly Jobless Claims report has been above 600k for 20 consecutive weeks now, and the consensus is that another 600,000 Americans filed for benefits in the week ending June 20. Last week’s gain was attributed, in part, to auto-sector lay-offs.
This week’s figures will get some extra attention as they are the “survey week” for nonfarm payrolls.
Continuing claims moderated for the first time since January in last week’s report, but with 6.687 million recipients of employment insurance a one-week dip wasn’t anything to be too excited about. A second week of improvement could garner some attention.
10:00 ― Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the House Oversight Committee on the central bank’s role in Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill Lynch. There have been accusations recently that the Bernanke Fed put pressure on BoA to cut the deal, which, if true, could hurt Obama’s plans to extend the central bank’s power as a regulator.