Here’s an update on technicals, fundamentals and what’s going on in the markets.

In the US, Dennis Lockhart, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President is due to lecture in Atlanta.

Troubles in Unicredit, rumors about issues at Deutsche Bank and the anticipation for a downgrade of France all weigh on the euro, in addition to weak economic figures from all over the continent. Is Draghi ready for QE? On the other side of the Atlantic, the US continues seeing growth in jobs and a drop in unemployment. The IMF has doubts about Greece’s ability to avoid default, and a German politician talks about a need for a bigger haircut. This doesn’t bode well for the euro. The euro was trading in calm waters until Fitch said that the euro-zone is facing a “cataclysmic” collapse if the ECB doesn’t intervene. Positive comments from Merkel regarding the ESM helped. Also a downwards revision of the euro-zone GDP weakened the common currency. All eyes are now on the ECB – see a preview of the highly anticipated decision.

Britain’s current account deficit leaped to 15.2 billion pounds. Early expectations were much lower, a deficit of only 5.6 billion in Q3. In Q2, the deficit stood on only 2 billion pounds.

Here’s an update on technicals, fundamentals and what’s going on in the markets.

In the US, Unemployment Claim, weekly report to measure who filed for the first time for unemployment cover, is due to rise by 10K from 366K up to 376K

The eurozone crisis and the global slowdown continue to batter Britain’s weak economy. The Treasury is forecasting that growth in 2011 will be a weak 1.1%, well down from the 2% projection at the beginning of the year. There is a strong chance that the economy will dip into a recession in early 2012. The economic indicators do not paint a pretty picture. Consumer confidence is very low, unemployment is high, at 8.3%, and keys sectors such as retail and manufacturing continue to struggle.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, value the number the unemployed that asked for insurance on the past month, about to reduce down to 397K from 402K in November.

Last week some encouraging figures were released with a 1.9% gain in Retail sales above the 0.7% increase expected and 2.4% gain in Prelim Industrial Production. Well above the 1.1% rise predicted furthermore Average Cash Earnings increased by 0.1% while expected to remain flat. Will this positive trend continue?

Here’s a quick update on technicals, fundamentals and what’s going on in the markets.