The harder it is to predict the direction of the markets, the more important investors need to keep things simple. With a tug of war going on between post-Christmas rally and the return of the bears, less information is more.
Concentrate on monitoring the key figures that actually matter: job count, housing prices, and LIBOR spreads.
The Bad news: Latest figures
Jobs
- Continuing to claim jobless benefits jumped unexpectedly by 101,000 to 4.61 million
- Unemployment figures due out Friday are expected to show that the U.S. lost a net total of 500,000 jobs in December
- job cuts are expected to send the unemployment rate to 7 percent in December, up from 6.7 percent the previous month
- The International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs same-store sales tally dropped 1.7 percent for December, (estimate was for a 1 percent decline
- Same-store sales for the November-December period dropped 2.2 percent, the weakest holiday period since at least 1969
- Jan 20 - possible news for a $775 billion package of tax cuts and government spending over two years to revive the moribund economy (up to $850 billion with add-ons by lawmaker)
