On tap for Thursday: February.......>

US DATA PREVIEW: On tap for Thursday: February Challenger layoff plans; weekly

claims (225k est); Q4 non-farm productivity (f) (1.7%) and unit labor costs

(1.7%); January consumer credit ($16.8B).

- Morgan Stanley economists "estimate that productivity grew at a 1.0%Q

annualized rate in the fourth quarter. For unit labor costs, we forecast growth

of 2.3% Q/Q annualized in the fourth quarter after a 1.2% gain in 3Q."

- Nomura economists note the "initial reading of Q4 productivity growth did not

include non-manufacturing productivity data due to missing components for

aggregate output. However, the initial report did include aggregate hours

growth, which increased 1.6% q-o-q saar. With the release of data from BEA on

real GDP during the quarter, increasing 2.6% q-o-q saar, the final estimate for

Q4 productivity may come in close to or slightly above 1.0% q-o-q saar, down

from the recent two quarters of 3.0% and 2.2% in Q2 and Q3, respectively."