Tom Hanna's Lifestream

Commentary and Overnight TradingThursday's economic reports were all about tough to decipher mixed news, which may explain how the US stock market held on for a good part of the day only to end down significantly in late afternoon. Earlier in the week, there was plenty of mixed news in real estate. That was followed up with a mixed set of reports on international trade. The trade deficit was up, which would normally be an indicator that US consumer demand was returning, but this time around it meant that both exports and imports had dropped. Since I focus mainly on total trade volume, this is a bad sign, but it can't be taken in a vacuum either. The Import Export Price Indexes also released Thursday showed a substanital drop in prices for both imports and exports in the 3-6% range. If you look at the trade figures in constant prices, trade volume actually expanded, unfortunately the deflation is itself a bad sign. Thursday was no day for one-handed economists.Markets abhor an information vacuum and things are looking down for the open Friday, with US stock market futures down 3.5% in overnight trading and both the Nikkei and Hang Seng indexes down more than 5.5%. Oil is also down 4.5% after what may have been a too strong rise on news of OPEC cuts. The US dollar is up strongly against the euro, pound and Canadian dollar, down even more strongly against the yen.Yesterday's Economic ReportsCASH Index - December 2008 CASH Index Reading: 15.3 Monthly Change: Down 19.4 Expectations Index: -21.2 Expectations Index Change: Down 44.5Import Export Price Indexes - November 2008 Import Prices: Down 6.7% Non-petroleum Import Prices: Down 1.8% Export Prices: Down 3.2%International Trade (US) - October 2008 Exports Monthly Change: Down $3.4 billion Exports Monthly Change: Down $2.7 billion Monthly Change: Up $0.6 billion Jobless Claims - December 11, 2008 Initial Claims: 573,000 Change from Last Week: Up 58,000 4-Week Moving Average: 540,500Money Supply - December 11, 2008 M1 Seasonally Adjusted Prior Month: $1522.5 billion M1 Annual Change (Unadjusted): Up $157.5 billion M2 Seasonally Adjusted Prior Month: $7934.0 billion M2 Annual Change (Unadjusted): Up $569.8 billion Mortgage rates drop, housing news mixed this weekThis week brought more muddled news for the housing market. BothFreddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association reported drops inFixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) rates and increases in Adjustable RateMortgage (ARM) rates this week. Last Friday, the Mortgage BankersAssocation reported mortgage delinquency rates at an all time high, twodays after reporting an all time increase in mortgage applications;this week, the MBA reported a small drop in mortgage applications.Spanish economy takes a nosediveSpain’s economy dropped hard in October after holding on admirably in August and September. The Leading Index, which had risen 0.4% combined in the previous two months,fell 1.2% in October and the Coincident Index fell 0.3%. The drop wasbroadly based with only 1 leading indicator and 1 coincident indicatorimproving.What I'm ReadingDebt Shows First Drop as Slump Squeezes ConsumersThe U.S. economy is deteriorating more rapidly thanexpected, indicating the recession will be deeper and longer thanfeared. Economists in a WSJ survey expect the decline in GDP tocontinue into next year.Fed's Assets Top $2 TrillionU.S. financial institutions continued to make extensive useof the Fed's growing list of credit facilities, pushing the Fed'sbalance sheet well past $2 trillion.Household Net Worth in U.S. Drops Most on Record as Stocks, Homes Tumble U.S. household wealth fell in thethird quarter by the most on record as property values and stockprices tumbled, highlighting the tattered state of consumerfinances even before the most recent slump in lending. India's Industrial Production Dropped in October for First Time Since 1993 India’s industrial productionunexpectedly fell for the first time in 15 years, placingpressure on policy makers to add to interest rate and tax cutsto shield the weakening economy from a global recession. U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Soar to 26-Year High as Recession Deepens The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits surged more than forecastlast week to a 26-year high, a sign companies are stepping upfirings as the recession deepens. South Korea's Economy to Grow at Slowest in 11 Years, Central Bank Says South Korea’s economy will expand atthe slowest pace in 11 years in 2009 as the deepening globalrecession cools demand at home and abroad, the central bank said. South Korea, China, Japan Agree on $48 Billion in Currency Swaps Accords South Korea agreed on bilateralcurrency swap accords with Japan and China in an effort to ensurefinancial stability in Asia. Japanese Consumer Sentiment Falls to Record Low as Companies Fire Workers Japan’s consumers became the mostpessimistic in at least 26 years, indicating their weakerspending may deepen the recession. China Retail-Sales Growth Slows to Weakest in 9 Months as Confidence Dips China’s retail sales grew at theslowest pace in nine months as the economy and inflation cooledand the global financial crisis damped consumer confidence. ECB's Weber Cautions Against Reducing Key Interest Rate Below 2 Percent European Central Bank council memberAxel Weber cautioned against reducing interest rates below 2percent, becoming the latest ECB policy maker to signal the bankmay be nearing the end of its rate-cutting cycle. Swiss Central Bank Cuts Benchmark Interest Rate to 0.5%: Table of the Day The following table details thechanges in the Swiss National Bank’s 3-month LIBOR targetrate: Japan consumer sentiment at record low in NovJobless claims hit 26-year high, exports tumbleThanks for reading. This content is originally from EconoIndicators or The Economic Indicators Blogger blog. Click through for more.