On tap for Thursday: Weekly.........>

US DATA PREVIEW: On tap for Thursday: Weekly jobless claims; trade balance for

March; Apr Final Demand PPI; March wholesale inventories and sales; Fed weekly

securities holdings.

* Morgan Stanley economists "expect core PPI to improve in April with a

trend-like 0.2% gain. A moderation in energy prices and the volatile trade

services category (which jumped 1.1% in March) should drive 0.2% growth on a

headline basis as well. A print in line with our forecasts would hold headline

PPI steady at 2.2% on a year-over-year basis (NSA) and core CPI steady at 2.0%."

* Nomura posits "March trade balance could show a widening of the trade gap. The

narrowing of the goods trade deficit in February was partly due to sharp

increases in exports of some volatile components that may have reverted in

March. Altogether, we forecast a trade deficit of $50.7bn in March, up slightly

from $49.4bn in February."