• Bankruptcy Filings
• Personal bankruptcy filings continue to inch higher but still have only recovered a small portion of their first quarter decline. Personal filings in the third quarter were down 69% from last year as Chapter 7 filings fell sharply again. Business bankruptcies fell 44% for the second consecutive quarter, on the back of a hefty decline in Chapter 7 filings.

• Factory Orders (M3)
• U.S. factory orders fell 4.7%, reflecting a larger than expected decline. The decline was the biggest since July 2000.

• Semiconductor Billings
• Global semiconductor billings rose by $520 million in October, to a level of $21.89 billion. This represents a 2.5% increase relative to September, and a 9.2% increase relative to October 2005. Billings rose in all regions of the world during October, with the fastest gains seen in Europe.

• Productivity and Costs
• As expected, productivity growth for the third quarter was revised higher. Nonfarm business productivity grew 0.2% (SAAR), compared to 0.0% in the preliminary release. Growth in unit labor costs saw a significant downward revision, from 3.8% (SAAR) to 2.3%; this was much a bigger revision than the consensus expected. Output and hours were revised up; real labor costs were revised down. Even more important, there was an enormous downward revision to unit labor costs in the second quarter, from 5.4% (SAAR) to -2.4%. The downward revisions to unit labor costs are very good news from an inflation perspective.

• Jobless Claims
• Jobless claims declined by 34,000 during the week ending December 2 to 324,000. Even with the drop the four-week moving average increased to 328,750, largely due to last week's Thanksgiving- distorted spike in jobless claims. Nonetheless, the move higher in recent weeks is another piece of evidence that job growth may be slowing.

• MBA Mortgage Applications Survey
• Mortgage demand increased 8.1% in the week ending December 5. Purchase applications increased 4.9% and refinance applications increased 13.7%.

• Chain Store Sales
• Chain store sales tumbled 2.6% in the week ending December 2, taking the index to its lowest level since late January. A drop in sales has become common in the week after Thanksgiving despite seasonal adjustment of the index. All told, the average decline over the past five years is now 3.0% with today’s hefty decline among the largest. Year- over-year growth rose to 3.1%, the strongest growth in seven weeks.

• Employment Situation
• The economy created 132,000 jobs on net in November, somewhat above consensus estimates. Construction and manufacturing are drags on the economy, but the remainder of the economy is expanding at a solid pace. Goods-producing industries took a beating, as expected, shedding 40,000, but this is below the loss of 62,000 in October. Indeed, October employment was revised down to a gain of 79,000 (from 92,000), although September's gains were revised upward to 203,000, from 148,000. The unemployment rate edged higher, to 4.5%, as expected.

• Consumer Credit (G19)
• Consumer credit declined in October by $1.2 billion to $2.38 trillion. The details of the report show that the latest decline in consumer credit was entirely driven by a hefty reduction in nonrevolving credit, which fell 3.2% at an annual rate. On the other hand, revolving credit increased 4.1% at an annual rate.

• Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
• Underground storage of natural gas decreased by 11 billion cubic feet during the week ending December 1. This was very close to the expected draw of 12 Bcf from storage. Inventories are now 9% above the five-year average. This report is likely to have a neutral, to slightly bearish, effect on prices.

• Oil and Gas Inventories
• Crude oil inventories fell by 1.1 million barrels for the week ending December 1, according to the Energy Information Administration, slightly above expectations. Distillate inventories inched lower by 0.1 million barrels. Gasoline stocks fell 1.1 million barrels, above expectations. A rebound in refinery activity drove this drop in inventories; the report will likely be seen as bullish by markets.

Source: Economy.com