Major economic headlines last week

A slew of positive economic data in the US outweighed bad news from the Omicron virus.

On the jobs front, the market keeps improving with 205k jobless claims last week compared to 206k the previous week.

These figures are below pandemic levels, and a sign that Omicron hasn’t hit the US economy as hard as some had expected.

The consumer confidence index has also improved further in December, while US home sales increased for the third straight month.

Meanwhile, US health regulators have authorised Pfizer’s and Merck’s antiviral COVID-19 pills, while Moderna said a third jab could protect against the Omicron variant.

France saw 100,000 daily COVID cases for the first time, as thousands of Christmas flights across the world were cancelled.

In Australia, most states brought back mandated mask and density limits, as cases soared, particularly in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
 

Economic calendar for this week

It will be a short week ahead as the ASX was closed for trading on Monday and Tuesday.
 

Australia

THURSDAY:

Housing and private sector credit for November.
 

International calendar

US (US time)

TUESDAY:
House price index for October.

WEDNESDAY:
US oil inventories.

THURSDAY:
US jobless claims for the week.

 

ASX IPO calendar for this week

No IPOs are expected this week.

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