01 February 2012 at 8:05 GMT
We step up the action a notch today with several key economic indicators, including the ISM Manufacturing Index. In addition the earnings season continues today, with Europe slowly taking more and more part in the action.
- ISM Manufacturing (15:00 GMT) set to increase in January: Yesterday's miss on the Chicago PMI has not deterred analysts from being hopeful for today's report on ISM Manufacturing*. Consensus looks for the index to rise to 54.5 from 53.1 a month ago, which would be the highest level since June 2011. Despite a couple of weak numbers yesterday related to house prices and confidence the US economy has shown resilient in the face of headwinds from Europe, but let us not get carried away here. A muddle through scenario of +2 pct. remains our base case scenario for 2012.
- ADP Employment (13:15 GMT) to show another big increase? Last month's mammoth 325,000 increase in the ADP Employment Index - the largest since records began - was followed up by a solid increase in payrolls payrolls of 212,000 in the US Employment report, and again today the ADP release will be watched closely for clues on the upcoming Employment (Nonfarm Payrolls) report on Friday. Consensus is for an increase of 182,000 in today's ADP report*.
- Portugal to venture into the credit market (10:30 GMT): Portugal, whose 10-year government bond yield rose to above 16 percent as January drew to a close, will attempt to auction off a pair of 105- and 168-day bills today. See here for a complete list of auctions list week: government bond auctions.
You can get these numbers in real-time if you are a member of TradingFloor.com, and membership is free: TradingFloor's financial calendar.
* Watch out for a follow-up article.