Day Ahead - Top 3 Things to Watch

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Investing.com - Here's a preview of the top three things that could rock markets tomorrow.

A deluge of data on inflation, jobless claims, housing, GDP and durable goods orders is on the calendar for Wednesday as a results of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday. Investors will likely look to the data to gauge whether current fears that the economy is set for a slowdown in fourth quarter are misplaced.

1. Jobless Claims, Durable Goods, Inflation on Watch

The Bureau of Economic Analysis will report its second reading of third-quarter 2019 gross domestic product at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT).

Economists, on average, expect that third-quarter growth stayed at annual rate of 1.9% from its first measure and down from 2.0% in the second quarter, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

The Commerce Department will report October's orders for goods lasting three years or more and October data for the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge at 8:30 AM ET.

The decline in durable goods orders is expected to have shrunk to 0.5% in October, following a 1.1% decline a month earlier.

Core durable goods orders, which exclude autos, are predicted to have rebounded last month, rising 0.2% following a 0.4% decline the prior month.

The Fed's preferred inflation measurem core PCE - which calculates price changes minus volatile food and energy costs – is expected to have risen 0.2% in October, but remain unchanged at 1.7% from a year earlier.

On the labor market, economists forecast that initial jobless claims fell to 223,000 from 227,000 previously.

2. Housing, Consumer Spending in Focus

The National Association of Realtors will provide an update on pending home sales at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).

On average, economists predict that pending home sales slowed to 0.2% in October, compared with a 1.5% increase in the prior month.

The health of the U.S. consumer will also come into focus, with personal income for October forecast to again post a rise of 0.3%, while personal spending is expected to have increased 0.3% from 0.2%.

3. U.S. Oil Inventories to Decline?

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) petroleum report is due Wednesday, with many keen for clues on whether last month's smaller-than-expected build is a sign of things to come.

The EIA is expected to report a draw in crude stockpiles of 418,000 barrels for the week ended Nov. 22. A week ago, the EIA reported a build in crude of 1.379 million barrels. While large, that was smaller than expected and helped oil prices move higher.

Crude oil futures rose 0.7% to settle at $58.41 a barrel on positive U.S.-China trade headlines and hopes that OPEC will announce further production cuts at a meeting next week. But If the oil cartel and its allies fail to signal further cuts, oil prices could drop sharply.

"(i)t seems doubtful whether OPEC is willing to do this," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said, warning that "oil prices risk dropping sharply in December if there is disappointment at an insufficient OPEC decision."

Late Tuesday, ahead of the EIA report, the American Petroleum Institute released dat that showed weekly crude stockpiles rose by about 3.6 million barrels the week before. While the API data is not perfectly correlated with the EIA's report, it often serves as an early indication of weekly petroleum levels.