Thursday: Unemployment Claims, PPI

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, the initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 210 thousand initial claims.

• Also, at 8:30 AM, The Producer Price Index for December from the BLS. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in PPI, and a 0.5% increase in core PPI.

• At 10:00 AM, Testimony, Fed Governor Lael Brainard, Nomination Hearing, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate

And on COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics  NowWeek
AgoGoal Percent fully Vaccinated62.6%—≥70.0%1 Fully Vaccinated (millions)208.0—≥2321 New Cases per Day3🚩761,535556,134≤5,0002 Hospitalized3🚩124,16391,030≤3,0002 Deaths per Day3🚩1,6561,238≤502 1 Minimum to achieve “herd immunity” (estimated between 70% and 85%).
2my goals to stop daily posts,
37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.
Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of positive tests reported.