US: Wholesale inventories and JOLTS data in focus - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura suggest that wholesale inventories and JOLTS data will be in focus for today’s US session.

Key Quotes

“Wholesale inventories: In the preliminary estimate, wholesale inventories were up 0.9% m-o-m in November following an upwardly revised 0.1% decline (previously reported as -0.4%) in October. The increase in inventories was seen in both durable and nondurable goods categories, suggesting inventory investment picked up in the month. In the final estimate for November, consensus expects this reading to be unrevised at 0.9% m-o-m.”

“JOLTS: Job openings fell slightly to 5534k in October from 5631k in September, with the job openings rate unchanged at 3.7%. The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Online ads were relatively steady as well, increasing by 74k in December. The steady reading suggests that the labor market remains tight, in line with the FOMC’s view that “labor market conditions had improved appreciably over the past year and that labor market slack had declined,” as seen in the minutes for the December meeting.”