Today the economic calendar is once again full to bursting with important events. First of all, Japan’s unemployment rate in December dropped to 2.9%, better than the forecast of 3%. Industrial production last month also improved slightly from the previous reading. However, the January consumer confidence report came in at 29.6, lower than the previous month and housing starts dropped to -9%, almost three times lower than the forecast.
In Europe, GDP growth rate flash reports were significantly better than anticipated in Spain and Germany, despite how heavily affected both countries have been by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Germany also surprised investors with positive data on unemployment, with the jobless rate falling to 6% in January against a prediction of 6.1%.
Later in the day we expect reports on PCE and core PCE price indices in the United States, as well as wages, spending, and income reports for December. There is also the Michigan consumer sentiment report for January and a few other readings, plus speeches by the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the Great Short-Squeeze on Wall Street continues. On Thursday, several US brokers angered the markets and the US government alike by delisting GameStop and other heavily-shorted companies or making other adjustments to their policies to prevent the shares of these firms from rising any further.
However, today these restrictions have been lifted and traders can once again buy these stocks. It is expected that the stock value of companies such as GameStop, AMC, and BlackBerry will continue to rise today.
Cryptocurrencies are also receiving a massive boost today thanks to what appears to be yet another acknowledgement over Twitter from Tesla founder and richest man on the planet, Elon Musk.
US stock indices are on the downside today due to concerns over the finances of hedge funds, with many major players involved in the shorting of GameStop stock now taking heavy losses and having to compensate for them by reshuffling their portfolios.
