Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,895.4 billion, up 0.4 percent (±0.1 percent) from October 2017 and were up 3.2 percent (±0.3 percent) from November 2016.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of November was 1.33. The November 2016 ratio was 1.40.

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December 2017, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $495.4 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month, and 5.4 percent above December 2016.

Total sales for the 12 months of 2017 were up 4.2 percent from 2016. Total sales for the October 2017 through December 2017 period were up 5.5 percent from the same period a year ago. The October 2017 to November 2017 percent change was revised from up 0.8 percent to up 0.9 percent. Retail trade sales were up 0.3 percent from November 2017, and were up 5.6 percent from last year. Nonstore Retailers were up 12.7 percent from December 2016, while Building Materials and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers were up 9.9 percent from last year.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.1 percent before seasonal adjustment.
An increase of 0.4 percent in the shelter index accounted for almost 80 percent of the 1-month all items increase. The food index rose in December, with the indexes for food at home and food away from home both increasing. The energy index, which rose sharply in November, declined in December as the gasoline index decreased.

• Says we may be overshooting full employment

• The job market is tightening

• U.S. oil drilling is going up

• It is tough to fill skilled worker jobs

In November 2017 the seasonally adjusted industrial production index was unchanged compared with the previous month. The percentage change of the average of the last three months with respect to the previous three months was -0.2.

The calendar adjusted industrial production index increased by 2.2% compared with November 2016 (calendar working days being the same as in November 2016); in the period January-November 2017 the percentage change was +2.7 compared with the same period of 2016.

The unadjusted industrial production index increased by 2.2% compared with November 2016.

In December 2017, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) gathered pace at +0.3% after +0.1% in November. This sharper rise came from a seasonal rebound in services prices and, in a lesser extent, from that of manufactured product prices. On the other hand, energy prices and tobacco prices slowed down and those of food were stable.

Seasonally adjusted, consumer prices hardly slowed down after a slight acceleration in the previous month: +0.1% after +0.2% in November.

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.2157 (2913)

$1.2121 (1965)

$1.2101 (2193)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.2059

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1978 (2746)

$1.1948 (2815)

$1.1914 (2849)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date February, 9 is 94153 contracts (according to data from January, 11) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2100 (5575);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.3650 (2034)

$1.3629 (1573)

$1.3599 (1060)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3548

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3490 (1083)

$1.3466 (2376)

$1.3437 (3060)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date February, 9 is 28366 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3600 (3487);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date February, 9 is 26183 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3500 (3060);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 0.92 versus 0.93 from the previous trading day according to data from January, 11

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

• Says U.S. fiscal path now unsustainable, sees risks to U.S. creditworthiness

• Significant portion of tax cuts will be saved not spent

• Tax cuts could lead to economic overheating, hurt long-term fiscal position

• Expects above-trend gdp growth, rising inflation in 2018

• U.S. Tax cuts to give short-term boost to economy but pose serious long-term risks

• Commerce Department statement offers no information about the findings of its section 232 steel import probe

• Says Trump has 90 days to decide on any potential action based on findings of section 232 steel probe

China's exports grew more than expected in December on global recovery but the pace of expansion slowed from November.

Exports grew 10.9 percent year-on-year in December, data from the General Administration of Customs showed Friday, cited by rttnews.

The annual rate was faster than the expected 10 percent but slower than the 12.3 percent increase registered in November.

Imports climbed 4.5 percent annually, which was much weaker than the 14.8 percent increase economists' had forecast and November's 17.7 percent rise.

As a result, the trade surplus rose to $54.69 billion in December, while it was forecast to fall to $37.4 billion.

(pare/closed(GMT +3)/change, %)

EUR/USD $1,2031 +0,70%

GBP/USD $1,3539 +0,24%

USD/CHF Chf0,97585 -0,24%

USD/JPY Y111,26 -0,15%

EUR/JPY Y133,87 +0,56%

GBP/JPY Y150,652 +0,10%

AUD/USD $0,7891 +0,63%

NZD/USD $0,7260 +0,86%

USD/CAD C$1,25198 -0,21%