It is a short working week in the U.S. next week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and all the economic data of significance therefore is clustered in the Tues-Weds period.
On Tuesday, the data leads off with the second estimate of third quarter GDP. There may be an upward revision as consumer spending was a bit stronger, net exports a bit narrower and inventories bit higher, but it should not look fundamentally different from the advance estimate. The Richmond Fed's Survey of Manufacturing for November will also be released.
The BLS will release two separate labour market reports for October on Tuesday. The data for mass layoff activity should continue to reflect very low levels of layoffs. Employers are reluctant to lose skilled workers, and payrolls that were deeply pared in early 2009 have yet to recover. The numbers for state and regional unemployment will provide some detail for the data behind the national unemployment rate of 9.6%.
On Wednesday, initial claims for the week ended November 20 will be released. New claims are slowly heading lower, if somewhat unevenly. Claims for continuing and extended benefits are taking somewhat larger strides in declines, but remain elevated, as do initial claims. If Congress extends benefits again, these decreases could wane...
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