US: Key Events ahead - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura take us through a series of economic events from the US docket lined up for release later in the NA session today.

Key Quotes:

“Initial jobless claims: Initial jobless claims increased to 259k in the week ending 21 January, following a revised higher 247k in the prior month. As the labor markets remain firm, we expect initial jobless claims to stay within the recent range. Consensus expects a steady reading of 250k for the week ending 28 January.”

“Productivity Q4, preliminary: Nonfarm productivity increased by an annualized 3.1% q o-q in Q3, above expectations, with an upward revision to the previous quarter. For Q4, we believe the economy grew steadily, but at a slower pace than in Q3. Consensus expects nonfarm productivity to have slowed to 1.0% q-o-q in Q4.”

“Unit labor costs Q3, preliminary: As nonfarm productivity improved more than expected in Q3, unit labor costs increased only by an annualized 0.7% q-o-q. In Q4, however, with a slower pace of output growth, it is likely that they grew stronger than in the previous quarter. Consensus expects unit labor costs increased at an annualized rate of 1.9% q-o-q in Q4.”