FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The minor movements in inventories among manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers together resulted in no net change in inventory levels at U.S. businesses. Sales continued to grow, but at a slower pace. No Net Change in Stocks, but Sales Improving Manufacturers posted a small increase in inventories, while destocking continued at retailers and wholesalers. The slight changes resulted in no net change for total business inventory. On a year-over-year basis, inventory levels remain down nearly

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

February data released today revealed another strong month for retail sales in spite of snowstorms hitting the East coast. Underlying growth in retail sales is now back close to the growth rates that prevailed before the recession and real consumption in Q1 is tracking around 3.0% q/q AR. We expect improvement in the labour market to support the current spending recovery through the rest of the year, although the growth momentum is likely to slow somewhat. Details Retail sales showed a strong

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Even if U.S. consumers are not very confident, they sure are spending. Retail sales shattered expectations in February with a 0.3% gain, the fifth increase in seven months. This performance was all the more remarkable given that the February data were negatively impacted by the blizzards that hit the U.S. East coast. If we exclude motor vehicles and gasoline, retail spending surged 0.8%, the second largest monthly increase in a year. Some pundits may argue that a month does not a trend make.

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Consumer demand picked-up in February as retail sales rose 0.3%, compared to 0.1% in January. Furthermore, retail sales were 3.9% stronger than those a year ago, marking the fourth consecutive month that retail sales have risen on a year-over-year basis. These results indicate that consumer spending is strengthening and will contribute to GDP growth in 1Q10. Sluggish auto sales, which dropped 2.4%, dragged down total sales. In fact, retail sales excluding autos rose 0.6%. The increase was

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Sales at the nation’s retailers climbed 0.3 percent in February and after stripping out automotive dealers and gasoline stations, gains were even better – up 0.9 percent. Sales Gains Were Broad Based Sales gains were broad based as only two categories (motor vehicles and health & personal care) showed declines. Strong gains were seen at electronics stores as well as food & beverage retailers. Our preferred measure of “core� sales, which removes gasoline, building materials and autos

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Sales at the nation’s retailers climbed 0.5 percent in January with solid gains across most retail categories. “Core� sales (ex-gas, building materials and autos) climbed 0.8 percent as 2010 started on an up note. Sales Higher Across Most Segments Year-over-year comparisons have become easier and sales were up nearly 5 percent over last January. While we are not expecting the consumer to come roaring back in the near-term, improvements have been quicker than expected considering the

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Latest (monthly change): +20.9k (Actual); +15.5k (expected) Previous: +43.0k FACTS: Total employment rose 20.9K in February, following a robust gain of 43.0K in January. Gains were concentrated in full-time employment (+60.2K) while part-time jobs fell by 39.3K. The public sector added 45.6K jobs while a loss of 7.5K was observed in the private sector and a decrease of 17.2K for the self-employed. The goods-producing sector amassed 17.8K positions with the largest increase coming from

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

EMU – IP (Jan): 1.7% UniCredit: 1.0% ------ Consensus: 0.7% ----- Last: 0.6% Eurozone IP in January was stronger than expected, though the 1.7% mom increase is not overly surprising after solid readings in France and Italy – as a matter of fact, a weighted average of national data suggested a 1.5% outcome for the eurozone today. In yearly terms, production was back in positive territory (+1.4%) for the first time since April 2008. On a 3M/3M basis, the growth rate is a strong 2.6%. The main

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The US trade deficit narrowed to $37.29B in January from a downwardly revised $39.9B shortfall in December. Expectations had been for a trade gap of $40.8 billion. Exports decreased 0.3%, but imports fell a larger 1.7%. Imports fell to $180B from $183.1B in December as the US imported 245 million barrels of oil, the fewest since February 1999. The decrease in volume swamped what was an increase in oil prices during that time. Also, purchases of foreign-made automobiles and parts dropped by

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Jobless Claims Decline by 6K, Job Growth on the Horizon? The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits declined by 6K to 462K for the week ending March 6th. It was the second weekly drop in a row and can be a sign that the climb in weekly claims seen the past two months may be arresting. The rise in January and February can be attributed to some temporary factors, including very strong winter weather in the country. For the economy to post positive job growth jobless claims have to

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

U.S. Watch To financial markets, massive U.S. federal deficits and consequent debt piling is a concern. As today’s Hot Chart shows, it might be reassuring to know that despite an annualized 12.6% increase in federal debt in Q4, domestic nonfinancial debt rose 1.6%, the lowest growth rate since at least 1952. This growth rate does not exceed CPI core inflation, a rare occurrence outside inflation spikes. This slowdown in domestic nonfinancial debt growth is due to the deleveraging that is

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Trade balance remains in surplus in January Latest: +$0.8B (Actual) +$0.4B (Expected) Previous: +$0.1B (revised up from -$0.2B) FACTS: The Canadian trade balance registered a $0.8B surplus in January, after two $0.01 surpluses in December and November (small deficits initially reported - top chart). In January, exports grew $0.153B or 0.5%. Advances in exports of industrial goods and materials (+$0.3B), consumer goods (+$0.1B) and agricultural and fishing products (+$0.1) were partly offset by

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Consumer prices rose 0.3% m/m in February, while the 12-month CPI rate slowed to 5.7% from the 6.4% published for January. Our expectation for the y/y rate was 6%, while the market consensus was 6.1%-6.2%. Volatile food prices - which caused negative surprise in January, increasing by 2.2% on the monthly level - rose just 0.3% m/m in February. Household energy prices increased by a moderate 0.3% m/m, within which purchased heating prices decreased by 3.4% m/m - due to the lower VAT rate -

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The CAD is trading at a two month high versus the USD and has made substantial gains versus European currencies. The outperformance of the CAD is attributed to recent Canadian economic data that points to a stronger than expected Canadian recovery. Canada’s Q4 GDP rose at its fastest space nine years reported at 5%. Canada also reported stronger than expected housing data, improvement in the manufacturing sector and rising employment. CAD is also supported by BOC policy outlook and rising

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The markets are surprised at the sluggishness of the recovery in the United Kingdom. In 2009Q4, the UK’s economic performance paled miserably compared with the 5% and 5.9% growth posted by Canada and the United States, respectively. Other factors also seem to be at the root of the British pound’s tumble. Political uncertainty is making markets fear the worst about the government’s capacity to resolve the impasse of an alarming budget situation. However, the pound’s recent downslide must be put

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The resource sectors of the S&P/TSX retreated on Tuesday after the release of Chinese trade data which showed the second consecutive monthly decline in exports. According to a NY times article, the Chinese commerce minister, Chen Deming, cautioned that it will be two to three years before China's exports return to pre-crisis levels. This is a rather odd comment that is probably aimed at diffusing calls for Yuan appreciation. While it is true that Chinese exports fell on a sequential basis

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Inventory at U.S. wholesalers declined 0.2 percent in January, a much slower pace than the -1.0 percent seen in December of last year. Sales were up broadly, causing some improvement to the inventory-sales ratio. Sales Gains have been Consistent, Inventories Less So Wholesalers reduced inventory in Jan. for the second straight month. While the brief build in Oct. and Nov. has not been sustained, the drawdown is convincingly losing steam. While inventories have fluctuated somewhat, gains in

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

In line with the flash estimate, the Hungarian GDP declined 4% y/y in 4Q09. Taking the calendar effect into consideration, the economy dropped by 4.1% y/y in October-December last year. Compared to the previous quarter, GDP declined by 0.4%. As for the breakdown of the figures (based on final use), households’ final consumption was down 5.7% y/y (after - 8.8% y/y in 3Q). The fall of investments was 8.1% y/y. The contribution of domestic demand to GDP growth remained negative also in 4Q (-7.8

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Jobless claims The Fed's Evans ties US monetary policy outlook to the labor market. According to Evans, the Fed will need to keep monetary policy accommodative for quite some time because of the weak US labor market. Evan’s specifically cited the length of unemployment as indicative of a weak labor market. He also appeared to leave the door open for possible future asset purchases by the Fed as a way of trying to boost growth and combat the magnitude of US unemployment. Thursday March 11th

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

HIGHLIGHTS In 2009, Mexico's GDP dropped by 7%, which was among the worst performances in the world and underscored its dependence on the U.S. consumer. The country was also afflicted by high levels of drug and other criminal violence, declining oil production, an ineffective and often corrupt regulatory system and a serious fiscal situation. While growth is expected to be modest in the next couple of years, the country's long-term economic, social and political fundamentals are strong enough

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

U.S. Watch The rising tide in GDP is not lifting all boats equally. The small business optimism index (NFIB) decreased 1.3 points in February to a level of 88.0. The biggest decline in the sub-components related to expectations about an improving economy. On the other hand, the biggest change in the positive direction was seen in earnings trends. Despite the decline in the headline number, we do not think there is a need to hit the panic button. As today’s hot chart shows, there is some room

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The direction of the USD may be nearing an inflection point with focus shifting away from concern about sovereign debt risk in the EU to improving risk sentiment. The USD rallied over 10% versus the EUR since December mainly in reaction to concern about the outlook for sovereign debt risk in the EU. This weekend French president Zarkozy said that the EU is prepared to help Greece. Zakozy’s comments helped ease concern about a Greek debt default and contributed to an improvement in risk

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Industry rose 5.7% y/y in January The January industrial output figures published this morning surprised on the upside. According to CSO’s preliminary statistics, the adjusted y/y figure showed an increase of 5.7%, significantly exceeding our expectation of a 1.6% yearly decline. The unadjusted y/y figure also was positive (3.4%). The reason for the better yearly figures was that on monthly level, the performance of industry jumped by a spectacular 8.8%. Please note however that for December,

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

This will brings further information on US consumer spending and attitudes, as well as the state of inventories – a sector has been at the forefront of the economic recovery. This week we will see both wholesale and business inventories. On the wholesale level, data on Wedensday, is expected to show that inventories increase 0.2% in January after falling 0.8% in December. Total business inventories, due out on Friday, are forecast to show a 0.1% rise after slipping 0.2% in December. The

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

In Lithuania CPI deflation in February accelerated to -0.5% y/y from -0.1% y/y in January. In Latvia, CPI deflation reached -4.2 % y/y, significantly down from -3.1 % y/y in January. Details Lithuania and Latvia Statistics have today published CPI inflation numbers for February. As was broadly expected, the continuation of seasonal sales significantly contributed to a downward trend in both countries. In Lithuania, deflation stood at 0.5% y/y, while in Latvia, CPI deflation reached -4.2% y/y

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Annual rate Latest : 196.7K (actual); 190.0K (forecast); Previous 185.4K (revised from 186.3K) FACTS : Canadian housing starts increased by 6.1% in February to 196.7K units from a downwardly revised 185.4K in December. Urban starts increased to 179.1K from 164.3K the previous month. Starts in rural areas slightly decreased to 17.6K from 21.1K. Single family starts in urban areas rose 0.45% to 89.2K while multiple starts in urban areas surged by 19.1% to 89.2K. On a regional basis, Ontario

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The US economy shed fewer jobs than expected in February with the unemployment rate remaining steady at 9.7%. Non-farm payrolls fell by 36K jobs which followed a 26K decrease in January. Expectations had been for a drop in payrolls of 68K and a rise in the unemployment rate to 9.8% as economists had factored in the severe winter storms of Feb 4-7 and 9-11 which likely prevented a significant number of Americans from being counted. Also with blizzards hitting the East Coast, a densely populated

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Employment fell 36,000 yet the trend in employment remains upward, consistent with the trends outlined in our annual outlook. Private sector jobs (ex-construction) were up for second straight month. Employment and Hours on the Upswing Nonfarm employment is clearly in recovery mode. This pattern is seen in subsectors such as business services and temporary help. Gains in manufacturing jobs reflect the same sectors with gains in orders (e.g. machinery and metals). Hours worked feeds into

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The BLS employment report surprised on the upside in February. Payroll jobs were down 36,000 on the month, but this outcome was much better than consensus expectations of a decline of 68,000 and our own estimate calling for a weather-related drop of 150,000. This outcome is all the more encouraging given that BLS counted a million workers who could not get to work during to work on the month. So what is the underlying trend in U.S. labour markets? To find the answer, we recommend switching to

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Change in Non-Farm Payrolls M/M (Feb) Exp. -68K (Prev. Jan. -20K, Dec. -150K) Morgan Stanley -65K BNP Paribas +30K JPMorgan -90K Credit Suisse -125K Goldman Sachs -100K Deutsche Bank -75K Bank of America -25K HSBC Markets +25K The analyst consensus is for a print of -68K non farm jobs with the majority of economists focusing on the impact of adverse weather conditions. Not working in a winter wonderland! Recent US economic data has been mixed as we head into the non-farm payrolls figure. On

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Highlights Budget deficits of $53.8 billion in the current fiscal year, $49.2 billion next year and $27.6 billion in 2011-12, declining to $1.8 billion (0.1% of GDP) in 2014-15. The budget maintains the $19-billion federal stimulus provided in Year 2 of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. New measures permanently increase the deficit by about $1 billion a year. They include elimination of all remaining tariffs on machinery, equipment and input goods imported by manufacturers. Federal transfers

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Most of today's US statistics met or exceeded predictions with those from the housing market the lone exception. Fourth quarter non-farm productivity rose 6.9% as firms added work but not workers. This was an improvement on the preliminary release of 6.2% and the survey prediction for a rise of 6.3%. Unit labor costs, a sort of mirror image of productivity, fell 5.9% in the quarter, better than the initial -4.4% reading and also the -4.5% survey prediction. While the strong productivity gain

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Foreign demand drove economy at the year-end, domestic demand stayed subdued The Statistical Office upped its flash 4Q GDP estimate by a notch from -2.7% y/y to -2.6% y/y (the pace GDP decline slowed down from -4.9% in 3Q). Quarterly seasonally-adjusted growth was confirmed at 2.0%. On an annual basis, the key GDP driver was foreign demand (government consumption also contributed positively, but the impact was mild). Expected re-stocking process is still not visible in the data. Households'

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Aircraft orders soared in January, helping total factory orders climb 1.7 percent for the month. Stripping out the contribution from aircraft and other transportation sectors, orders edged up only 0.1 percent. Slow Climb Back to the Peak Despite rising nine of the past ten months, factory orders are only about a third of the way back to their pre-recession peak. From the peak to where we are today, orders are still down 16.9 percent. New orders for non-defense capital goods, ex-aircraft

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Euroland GDP growth confirmed at 0.1% q/q in Q4, but overall growth in 2009 revised down from -4.0% to -4.1%. Domestic demand dragged down growth in Q4. On a positive note however, private consumption was unchanged against expectations of further decline. Car sales pulled up private consumption as car scrapping schemes came to an end in 2009. Retail sales still show a declining trend across Europe. Euroland is falling behind the US and Asia, but it does not look like a double dip at the

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

Bad weather may distort Friday’s US nfp US February unemployment and nonfarm payrolls (nfp) will be released on Friday, March 5th at 8:30 EST. Two major snowstorms hit large portions of the US during February. The bad weather may distort the February unemployment report and contribute to larger than expected job losses. One of the snowstorms hit during the survey period for the February unemployment report and this could add as much as 100k or more to the nonfarm payrolls losses. Before the

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index posted a reading of 53.0 for February, climbing from 50.5 in January. The figure was better than forecast (51.0) and it’s the highest the index has been in two years showing that the services sector in the US perked up in the middle of the 1st quarter. The ISM non-manufacturing index had been in a narrow range between 48 and 51 since August, lagging the expansion pace seen in the manufacturing sector. The internals of the report showed the business activity

FXstreet.com: Fundamental: Reports on Economic Indicators
FXstreet.com: Reports on Economic Indicators. Economic Indicators explained. A resource to understand how big institutions handle the various economic informations.

    Market Watch The consumer discretionary sector has been one of the top performing economic sectors of the S&P 500 in 2010 (up 3.5% YTD).  Even if this group trades at 15.8 times its 2010 estimated operating earnings, we remain comfortable with our current overweight stance. In our view, the bottom-up consensus calling for operating EPS of $15.03 is conservative. According to data released by the BEA earlier this week, personal consumption expenditures on discretionary