3 Numbers to Watch: US Durables & Jobless Claims; DE Unemployment

As protesters in Madrid, Lisbon and Athens poured onto the streets this week to express their anger at the 'draconian' austerity measures introduced by their respective governments, investors took to the markets to raise their concerns over the state of affairs in Europe. Yields on Spanish ten-year government bonds have returned back to the 6% level after a brief decline following the announcement of European Central Bank's bond-buying plan. Draghi's attempt to 'save the euro' has been discounted by investors worried that political upheaval in Spain will prove a major stumbling block.

Looking ahead, we've got a wide selection of economic data releases to choose from today. US durable goods and jobless numbers are expected later in the day. But first, unemployment figures for Germany are due out.

German Unemployment (07:55 GMT) The number of jobless claimants in Germany is set to rise for a fourth consecutive month in September as growth in the Eurozone's largest economy continues to dwindle. New claimants are expected to rise by 10,000, according to a consensus of analysts, from an increase of 9,000 in August. Recent surveys like the German IFO index point to a decline in business sentiment as the source of the recent labour market weakness. The index fell unexpectedly in September with the outlook over the next six months also looking rather grim. However, one could argue that the unemployment rate in Germany - which is forecast to remain at 6.8% for the month - has been reasonably stable under the current uncertain circumstances in Europe.

US Durable Goods (12:30 GMT) US durable goods orders for August are expected to fall 5 percent in August, after expanding by 4.2 percent in July. However, when looking at durable orders excluding transportation equipment, a less volatile measure, the figure is actually expected to rise by 0.2 percent compared to a contraction of 0.4 percent last month. Orders for non-transport goods had been declining recently, falling in four of the last five months. On the other hand, factory production looks to be strengthening. Non-defense orders for new capital goods, such as machinery and tools - a key measure of business investment plans - rose by 6.8 percent in July, while shipments for capital goods increased by 1.2 percent.

US Jobless Claims (12:30 GMT) The number of unemployment claimants in the US is expected to have increased by 375,000 in the seven days to September 22, according to analysts' estimates. While the data would be an improvement on the previous week's figures - which showed the number of claimants rose by 380,000 - it does little to hide the fact there continues to be plenty of slack in the US economy. The Fed's QE Infinity programme is expected to take a few weeks before its effects are fully felt in the labout market. The big question is whether the unemployment rate will drift below 7 percent by the end of the year. At 8.1 percent, the unemployment rate has a long way to go in just three months.

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