In the US, Unemployment Claims, monthly indicator to value the unemployment insurance that was filed on the last week, is predicted to drop down from 377K to 373K this week.

In the US, The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI); Monthly Managers Survey to value the business conditions such as new orders, deliveries and inventories, rise is expected from 53.9 points on December up to 54.6 points now. And on the ISM Manufacturing Prices similar rise is forecasted from 47.5 points to 49.5 points.

The dollar weakened against most major currencies following Bernanke’s announcement that  interest rates will likely remain near zero until late 2014. This was despite solid economic data coming out of the US.

The British government deficit hit 15.2 billion in November, which although sharply higher than the October reading, was a bit better than the market forecast, and postive news for the pound.At the same time, property prices are down significantly, and most economic indicators are pointing to a recession in 2012.

Positive US figures released last week suggest careful optimism regarding the current US economic condition with another drop in weekly jobless claims to 364,000 and Consumer sentiment revised up to 67.7 Will this positive trend continue? The delay of the S&P report for the euro-zone to January should provide some relief as well.

In the US, The Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence, monthly survey to rate the present and upcoming financial conditions with labor availability etc., rise is expected from 39.8 on October up to 43.8 this time.

British bonds did enjoy the failed German bond auction, but this wasn’t enough to lift the pound. And while Q3 GDP was reaffirmed at 0.5%, Q4 looks very worrying. We will get fresh data about November now.

In the US, ISM Manufacturing PMI and important Manufacturing activity gauge, increased more than predicted to 51.6 in September after reaching 50.6 inAugust. A further rise to 52.3 is expected now.

The pound also enjoyed a relatively small current account deficit. This provided a boost for the pound.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, weekly measurement of the persons that filed for unemployment cover, reduces from 423K on the last week to 420K this time.