US: Yellen in focus on a data heavy day – TDS

Analysts at TDS suggests that the Fed Chair Yellen’s second speech in as many days will focus on the economic and monetary policy outlook, but will come at 20:00 ET after markets close.

Key Quotes

“While yesterday’s event focused on high level goals of monetary policy, today should offer more depth. Looking to the data, December housing starts are expected to post a sizeable rebound after plunging by nearly 19% last month. TD looks for a 7.5% m/m bounce to an annualized 1171k driven by multi-unit construction while the market expects a larger jump to 1188k.”

“Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed Index is expected by both TD and the market to correct from last month’s outsized gain. TD looks for a pullback from 19.7 to 15.0, slightly below the market consensus for 15.3. Lastly, we look for jobless claims to edge lower to 243k for the week ending January 14th while the market expects claims to continue drifting higher to 252k.”