Data Storm Rains on Markets

The week begins with a bang but ends with a whimper. A storm of data hits markets on Monday with retail sales an hour before the opening bell, plus the first look at November manufacturing and business inventories. To top off the day, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke gives a talk during the lunch hour a little after dual Treasury auctions.

Later in the week markets will be looking at inflation indexes, housing construction data, the usual weekly labor report, and leading indicators. Friday ends the week with no data at all. 

The week is sure to be a busy one. Even before the opening bell sentiment is high after the Japanese economy climbed a healthy annualized rate of 4.8% in the third quarter, about two percentage points better than expected incline due to robust consumer spending and improving exports.

That’s helping to buoy markets across the globe, led by a 2.74% jump in Shanghai and a 1.73% gain in Hong Kong. Two hours before the open Dow futures are pointing up 65 points to 10,307 and S&P 500 futures up almost 9 points to 1,102.

Gold reached new highs again at $1,030 per troy ounce overnight but now trade at $1128.77. In not unrelated news, the US dollar is weaker after a surprise uptick late last week. 

Is Monday morning too early for irony? China and the US are once again talking about currency reform, but this time it’s not about the renminbi. Liu Mingkang, chief of China’s Banking Regulatory Commission, said US monetary policy was encouraging speculative capital flows. 

“The continuous depreciation in the dollar, and the US government’s indication that, in order to resume growth and maintain public confidence, it basically won’t raise interest rates for the coming 12-18 months, has led to massive dollar arbitrage speculation,” Liu said.

Even so, appetite for Treasuries remains robust: the 10-year yield is down a few basis points to 3.40%.

Key Events This Week:

Monday:

8:30 â€