Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Claud B who wrote (37607)	1/18/2000 1:03:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 99985

HIGHLIGHTS OF MARKET NEWS SURVEY OF US ECONOMIC FORECASTS WASHINGTON (MktNews) - Following are highlights of forecasts for upcoming U.S. economic indicators provided by participants in the Market News weekly survey. The comment section presents the key elements behind the median forecasts. -- Housing Starts for December (annual rate, million) Wednesday, January 19 at 8:30 a.m. ET Actual: Median Range Responses Dec99 Nov99 Oct99 Starts 1.610m 1.550m to 1.650m 20 -- 1.600m 1.637m Permits 1.580m 1.570m to 1.625m 5 -- 1.612m 1.594m Comments: Housing starts are expected to rise 0.6% to a 1.610 million annual rate in December after falling 2.3% in November to a 1.600 million annual rate. The slight improvement indicates builders' confidence in the market remains intact. Still, many analysts feel that the market is cooling off after running hot for much of last two years. Permits are expected to fall 2.0% to a 1.580 million annual rate. -- Trade in Goods and Services for November (deficit, billion $) Thursday, January 20 at 8:30 a.m. ET Actual: Median Range Responses Nov99 Oct99 Sep99 Trade Gap -$26.0b-$24.5b to -$26.6b 20 -- -$25.9b -$24.2b Comments: The trade deficit is expected to widen slightly to a $26.0 billion level on increases in both imports and exports. The deficit could subtract as much as 0.5 percentage point from fourth quarter GDP given the recent widening in October, analysts' forecasts show. The deficit continues to show that U.S. domestic demand is strong, while oil prices remain high. -- Jobless Claims for week ended Jan. 15 (change/level in thousands) Thursday, Jan. 20 at 8:30 a.m. ET Actual: Median Range Responses Jan15 Jan08 Jan01 New Claims -14/295-25/284 to -6/303 11 -- UNCH/309 +34/309 Comments: Jobless claims are expected to slip back under the 300,000 level in the January 15 week after holiday seasonal adjustment factors boosted claims in the January 1 week. The 295,000 forecast is expected to be the result of a large unadjusted decline in claims offset only partially by an aggressive positive seasonal factor. -- Phila. Federal Reserve Index for January (diffusion index) Thursday, January 20 at 10:00 a.m. ET Actual: Median Range Responses Jan99 Dec99 Nov99 Phila Fed 12.0 4.2 to 18.0 11 -- 8.6 15.8 Comments: The Philadelphia Fed index is expected to rise to a reading of 12.0 in January, suggesting that manufacturing recovered some of its December slowdown. While this index represents only one area of the country, it is the first snapshot of manufacturing for January. The national NAPM for January is scheduled for release February 1. -- Treasury Statement for December ($ billions) Friday, January 21 at 2:00 p.m. ET Actual: Median Range Responses Dec99 Nov99 Dec98 Balance +$31.0b+$20.0b to +35.5b 14 -- -$27.6b -$5.2b Comments: The Treasury is expected to post a $31.0 billion surplus in December 1999, compared with a $5.2 billion deficit in December 1998. The improvement can be partially attributed to calendar quirks. The Social Security payment date for January 1999 was pushed into December 1998, boosting outlays in that month. Even without that quirk, the December 1999 surplus would still reflect some improvement.