US: Merchandise trade balance and Case-Shiller home price index in focus - Nomura

In view of the analysts at Nomura, advanced goods trade balance and Case-Shiller home price index will garner investors’ attention in today’s US session.

Key Quotes

“Advanced goods trade balance: The goods trade balance was -$64.4bn in December, a narrower deficit than in November due to unexpected strength in goods exports. In January, container data at ports suggest exports continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in December. We think imports also increased steadily, but exports likely outpaced imports. Thus, we forecast a trade balance of -$64.8bn in January, a slight widening of the deficit from December (Consensus: -$66.0bn).”

“Case-Shiller home price index: Home prices in urban areas increased modestly by 0.88% m-o-m in November. The annual pace picked up slightly, registering 5.27% y-o-y. Although mortgage rates increased strongly after mid-November, incoming data suggest consumer demands for housing has been resilient. Coupled with limited supply of housing units, the steady consumer demand for housing suggests that growth in home prices likely continued in December. However, some of the potential increase was likely due to residual seasonality that causes relatively rapid appreciation in this index in the fall/winter months.”