16 February 2012 at 14:20 GMT
US job and housing market continue to pick up
In pre-market investors got the first two of today's 3 numbers to watch, initial jobless claims and housing starts.
The US labour market is in on a run as today's 348K figure was much better than the expected 365K; it is the lowest reading since the first quarter of 2008. Please note that in the period 2004-2007, initial jobless claims were bouncing between 300-350K so these figures we have seen lately are really good. Investors should however be a bit cautious as we know the deep recession during the financial crisis has temporarily distorted the seasonality factor going into many economic time series. We need to get past the spring with these low figures before we can be really confident that the US economy is speeding up.
As the National Association of Homebuilders Market Index showed yesterday the US housing market is picking up. In pre-market, US housing starts came in at 699K beating estimates of 675K and last month's figure was revised up to 689K from 657K. If momentum picks up in housing it could be a game changer for the US economy.
S&P 500 Index futures are currently down 0.2 percent ahead of the open.
Investors in Europe sell stocks on uncertainty driven by Greece & Moody's
Stoxx 600 is down 0.5 percent (pre-market economic data from the US has pushed the index up 0.3 percentage points) in today's session as continuous delays in the Greek bailout are causing investors to sell stocks and ask questions later. Adding support to today's sell-off is of course also the news that Moody's is considering the downgrade of 17 banks with market operations which could influence the funding markets for banks.