On tap for Thursday: Data...........>

US DATA PREVIEW: On tap for Thursday: Data releases surge with weekly claims

(229k est); Philadelphia Fed Mfg Index (14.0 est); Durable goods/new orders;

Markit Manufacturing and Services index; existing home sales (4.98M est);

leading indicators (0.2% est).

- On durable goods orders excluding transportation, Morgan Stanley economists

look for the figure to "rise a strong 0.8% in December on top of a 0.5% gain in

November. For the headline figure, industry data points to a surge in aircraft

orders, which should push up overall orders to a reading of 3.9%."

- Barclays economists "forecast overall new orders of advance durable goods to

have jumped 4.6% m/m in December on the heels of November's 0.7% m/m increase.

We expect December's increase to have been driven by a 12.5% m/m jump in orders

in the volatile transportation category, reflecting a December upswing in

aircraft orders at Boeing."