US DATA REACT: Nomura says underlying details in the Jan trade data
“were a little less encouraging” than the narrowing gap. “With the
caveat that trade flows are notoriously volatile from month-to-month,
declines in both exports and imports are hardly signs of economic
vitality. However, both fell from very elevated levels in the final two
months of last year and the January declines were not large enough to
halt the generally improving trend.” HFE says 462k jobless claims “is
disappointing; we had hoped claims would be at or below 400K by now. We
wonder if the continued weakness of the small business sector” is key.