In the US, Crude Oil Inventories, the number of crude oil barrels in inventory over the last week, is about to remain 4.2M similar to the last week’s report.

Last week, Gross Domestic Product edged down 0.1% in November following no growth in October. This is the first decline since May 2011 which was contrary to economists expectations of 0.2% expansion. The main drops occurred in the energy sector with oil and gas sliding 2.5% but the manufacturing sector increased 0.6% on durable goods. Employment data were weak with a rise in the unemployment rate, but the excellent job figures from the US provided lots of hope. Will we see better results next month?

Last week The Bank of Japan maintained its interest rate at 0-0.10% and did not alter its 55 trillion yen quantitative easing program announcing that Japan’s economic growth is flat amid a slowdown in foreign markets. However Retail sales climbed 2.5% better than predicted following 2.2% fall in the previous month indicating some improvement in the market. Will this week bring more encouraging news?

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

In the US, Unemployment Claims, weekly report to value the unemployed that filed for insurance, due to reduce by 10K from the last month down to 389K.

In the US, John Williams, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President, is about to speak in Vancouver.

Last week, Ivey PMI figures increased unexpectedly to 63.5 from 59.9 in the previous month suggesting expansion in the industrial sector. However employment data disappointed with higher unemployment rate of 7.5% from 7.4% in the prior month and a bit lower than expected job increase of 17,500 while 17,800 was predicted. Let’s see what this week has in store for us.

In the US, The Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence, Financial confidence is a leading indicator of consumer spending Survey to value the consumer spending and rate the total financial situation, due to rise from 56.0 points  on November up to 58.5 points now.

Last week Japan’s central bank released its monetary policy statement announcing the continuation of the current easy monetary policy in light of the growing concerns over European debt problems and the strong yen. The BOJ decided to leave its key interest rate near zero and continue to provide liquidity to the markets through government bonds. Will the Japanese economy improve in 2012?

In the US, Building Permits the annualized amount of residential permits released in October was well beyond predictions reaching 650,000 after 590,000 in the prior month. A small drop to 630,000 is expected now.