GDP Reports

Key economic data for the last week of May 2010 starting May 24th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
05/24/10 10:00 AM	Existing Home Sales	Apr		5.65M	5.4M
05/25/10 9:00 AM	Case-Shiller 20-city Index	Mar		2.8%	0.6%
05/25/10 10:00 AM	Consumer Confidence	May		58.3	57.9
05/25/10 10:00 AM	FHFA Housing Price Index	Mar		NA	-0.2%
05/26/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders	Apr		1.4%	-0.3%
05/26/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders ex Transportation	Apr		0.5%	3.5%
05/26/10 10:00 AM	New Home Sales	Apr		425	411
05/26/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	05/22		NA	0.162M
05/27/10 8:30 AM	GDP - Second Estimate	Q1		3.3%	3.2%
05/27/10 8:30 AM	GDP Deflator - Second Estimate	Q1		0.9%	0.9%
05/27/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	05/22		455K	NA
05/27/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	05/22		4600K	NA
05/28/10 8:30 AM	Personal Income	Apr		0.4%	0.3%
05/28/10 8:30 AM	Personal Spending	Apr		0.3%	0.6%
05/28/10 8:30 AM	PCE Prices - Core	Apr		0.1%	0.1%
05/28/10 9:45 AM	Chicago PMI	May		60.0	63.8
05/28/10 9:55 AM	U. Michigan Consumer Sentiment	May		73.7	73.3

Calendar key:
Actual refers to the actual figures after t

Options Expiration

Key economic data for the third week of May 2010 starting April 17th, 2010. The coming week is an options expiration week. As a rule, during options expiration higher volatility could be expected.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
05/17/10 9:00 AM	Net Long-Term TIC Flows	Feb	40.0	47.1
05/18/10 8:30 AM	Building Permits	Apr	680K	680K
05/18/10 8:30 AM	Core PPI	Apr	0.1%	0.1%
05/18/10 8:30 AM	Housing Starts	Apr	656K	626K
05/18/10 8:30 AM	PPI	Apr	0.1%	0.7%
05/19/10 8:30 AM	Core CPI	Apr	0.0%	0.0%
05/19/10 8:30 AM	CPI	Apr	0.1%	0.1%
05/19/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	05/15	NA	1.95M
05/20/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	05/15	4600K	4627K
05/20/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	05/15	440K	444K
05/20/10 10:00 AM	Leading Indicators	Apr	0.2%	1.4%
05/20/10 10:00 AM	Philadelphia Fed	May	21.3	20.2

Calendar key:
Actual refers to the actual figures after their release.

Export/Import

Key economic data for the second week of May 2010 starting May 11th, 2010. There are no economic reports on Monday May 10, 2010

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
05/11/10 10:00 AM	Wholesale Inventories	Mar	0.5%	0.6%
05/12/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Apr	-$20.0B	-$20.9B
05/12/10 8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Mar	-$40.0B	-$39.7B
05/12/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	05/08	NA	2.75M
05/13/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	05/08	4590K	4594K
05/13/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	05/08	440K	444K
05/13/10 8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Apr	NA	0.6%
05/13/10 8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Apr	NA	0.2%
05/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales	Apr	0.2%	1.9%
05/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales ex-auto	Apr	0.5%	0.9%
05/14/10 9:15 AM	Capacity Utilization	Apr	73.8%	73.2%
05/14/10 9:15 AM	Industrial Production	Apr	0.6%	0.1%
05/14/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	May	73.5	72.2
05/14/10 10:00 AM	Business Inventories	Mar	0.4%	0.5%

Auto and Truck Sales Report on Monday

Key economic data for the First week of May 2010 starting may 3rd, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
05/03/10 2:00 PM	Auto Sales	Apr	4.2M	4.3M
05/03/10 2:00 PM	Truck Sales	Apr	4.6M	4.8M
05/03/10 8:30 AM	Personal Income	Mar	0.3%	0.0%
05/03/10 8:30 AM	Personal Spending	Mar	0.6%	0.3%
05/03/10 10:00 AM	Construction Spending	Mar	-0.3%	-1.3%
05/03/10 10:00 AM	ISM Index	Apr	60.0	59.6
05/04/10 10:00 AM	Factory Orders	Mar	-0.2%	0.6%
05/04/10 10:00 AM	Pending Home Sales	Mar	5.0%	8.2%
05/05/10 8:15 AM	ADP Employment Change	Apr	30K	-23K
05/05/10 10:00 AM	ISM Services	Apr	56.1	55.4
05/05/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	05/01	NA	1.96M
05/06/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	05/01	4600K	4645K
05/06/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	05/01	440K	448K
05/06/10 8:30 AM	Productivity-Prel	Q1	2.4%	6.9%
05/07/10 3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Mar	-$3.9B	-$11.5B
05/07/10 8:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	Apr	9.7%	9.7%
05/07/10 8:30 AM	Nonfarm Payrolls	Apr	187K	162K
05/07/10 8:30 AM	Average Workweek	Apr	34.0	34.0
05/07/10 8:30 AM	Hourly Earnings	Apr	0.1%	-0.1%

Consumer Confidence

Key economic data for the last week of April 2010 starting April 27th, 2010. There are no economic reports on April 26th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
04/27/10 9:00 AM	Case-Shiller 20-city Index (y/y)	Feb	1.1%	-0.7%
04/27/10 10:00 AM	Consumer Confidence	Apr	53.7	52.5
04/28/10 2:15 PM	FOMC Rate Decision	4/28	0.25%	0.25%
04/28/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	04/24	NA	1.89M
04/29/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	04/17	4625K	4646K
04/29/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	04/24	440K	456K
04/30/10 8:30 AM	GDP-Adv.	Q1	3.2%	5.6%
04/30/10 8:30 AM	Chain Deflator-Adv.	Q1	0.9%	0.5%
04/30/10 8:30 AM	Employment Cost Index	Q1	0.5%	0.5%
04/30/10 9:45 AM	Chicago PMI	Apr	59.8	58.8
04/30/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Apr	71.5	69.5

New Home Sales

Key economic data for the third week of April 2010 starting April 19th, 2010. The coming week is not rich on economic reports.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
04/19/10 10:00 AM	Leading Indicators	Mar	1.0%	0.1%
04/21/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	04/17	NA	-2.20M
04/22/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	04/17	455K	484K
04/22/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	04/10	4600K	4639K
04/22/10 8:30 AM	PPI	Mar	0.5%	-0.6%
04/22/10 8:30 AM	Core PPI	Mar	0.1%	0.1%
04/22/10 10:00 AM	Existing Home Sales	Mar	5.30M	5.02M
04/22/10 10:00 AM	FHFA Home Price Index	Feb	-0.2%	-0.6%
04/23/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders	Mar	0.2%	0.9%
04/23/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders ex auto	Mar	0.6%	1.4%
04/23/10 10:00 AM	New Home Sales	Mar	325K	308K

Beige Book

Key economic data for the second week of April 2010 starting April 12th, 2010. The coming week is not rich on economic reports. Next week is an options expiration week.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
04/12/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Mar	$67.5B	-$191.6B
04/13/10 8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Mar	NA	-0.2%
04/13/10 8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Mar	NA	0.2%
04/13/10 8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Feb	-$39.0B	-$37.3B
04/14/10 2:00 PM	Fed's Beige Book	Apr	NA	NA
04/14/10 8:30 AM	CPI	Mar	0.1%	0.0%
04/14/10 8:30 AM	Core CPI	Mar	0.1%	0.1%
04/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales	Mar	1.1%	0.3%
04/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales ex-auto	Mar	0.5%	0.8%
04/14/10 10:00 AM	Business Inventories	Feb	0.3%	0.0%
04/14/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	04/10	NA	1.98M
04/15/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	04/03	4600K	4550K
04/15/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	04/10	440K	460K
04/15/10 9:00 AM	Net Long-Term TIC Flows	Jan	NA	$19.1B
04/15/10 9:15 AM	Capacity Utilization	Mar	73.3%	72.7%
04/15/10 9:15 AM	Industrial Production	Mar	0.7%	0.1%
04/15/10 10:00 AM	Philadelphia Fed	Apr	20.0	18.9
04/16/10 8:30 AM	Building Permits	Mar	626K	637K
04/16/10 8:30 AM	Housing Starts	Mar	610K	575K
04/16/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Apr	75.0	73.6

FOMC Meeting

Key economic data for the first week week of April 2010 starting April 5th, 2010. The coming week is not rich on economic reports.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
04/05/10 10:00 AM	ISM Services	Mar	53.6	50.0
04/05/10 10:00 AM	Pending Home Sales	Feb	-1.0%	-7.6%
04/06/10 2:00 PM	Minutes of FOMC Meeting
04/07/10 3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Feb	$1.6B	$5.0B
04/07/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	04/03	NA	2.93M
04/08/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	03/27	NA	4662K
04/08/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	04/03	433K	439K
04/09/10 10:00 AM	Wholesale Inventories	Feb	0.3%	-0.1%

Income, Emplyment and consumer Confidence

Key economic data for the last week of March and first week of April 2010 starting March 29th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
03/29/10 8:30 AM	Personal Income	Feb	0.1%	0.1%
03/29/10 8:30 AM	Personal Spending	Feb	0.3%	0.5%
03/29/10 8:30 AM	PCE Prices - Core	Feb	0.1%	0.0%
03/30/10 9:00 AM	Case-Shiller 20-city Index	Jan	-0.6%	-3.1%
03/30/10 10:00 AM	Consumer Confidence	Mar	50.0	46.0
03/31/10 8:15 AM	ADP Employment Change	Mar	40K	-20K
03/31/10 9:45 AM	Chicago PMI	Mar	61.0	62.6
03/31/10 10:00 AM	Factory Orders	Feb	0.5%	1.7%
03/31/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	03/27	NA	7.25M
04/01/10 2:00 PM	Auto Sales	Mar	NA	3.7M
04/01/10 2:00 PM	Truck Sales	Mar	NA	4.2M
04/01/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	03/20	4600K	4648K
04/01/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	03/27	440K	442K
04/01/10 10:00 AM	Construction Spending	Feb	-1.0%	-0.6%
04/01/10 10:00 AM	ISM Index	Mar	57.0	56.5
04/02/10 8:30 AM	Nonfarm Payrolls	Mar	190K	-36K
04/02/10 8:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	Mar	9.7%	9.7%
04/02/10 8:30 AM	Average Workweek	Mar	33.9	33.8
04/02/10 8:30 AM	Hourly Earnings	Mar	0.2%	0.1%

Home Sales

Key economic data for the forth week of March 2010 starting March 23rd, 2010. There are no economic news on Monday March 22nd, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
03/23/10 10:00 AM	Existing Home Sales	Feb	5.00M	5.05M
03/23/10 10:00 AM	FHFA Home Price Index	Jan	-0.9%	-1.6%
03/24/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders	Feb	0.5%	2.6%
03/24/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders ex Auto	Feb	0.5%	-1.0%
03/24/10 10:00 AM	New Home Sales	Feb	315K	309K
03/24/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	03/20	NA	1.01M
03/25/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	03/13	4560K	4579K
03/25/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	03/20	450K	457K
03/26/10 8:30 AM	GDP - Third Estimate	Q4	5.9%	5.9
03/26/10 8:30 AM	GDP Deflator - Third Estimate	Q4	0.4%	0.4%
03/26/10 9:55 AM	Michigan Sentiment - Final	Mar	73.0	72.5

Philadelphia Fed Index

Philadelphia Fed Index is tracked by the Philadelphia Federal-Reserve Bank (headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and is based on the survey of voluntary participants regarding the direction of change in their overall business activities. This is a regional survey and it covers the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware regions. The survey measures regional manufacturing growth and covers answer on such questions as employment, new orders, shipments, inventories, prices paid, etc.

The Fed report is one of the most watched reports and one of the most respected of all the regional purchasing manager reports. The Philadelphia Fed Index above zero indicates factory-sector growth, and the Philadelphia Fed Index below zero indicates contraction.

The Philadelphia Fed Index  (also known as the "Business Outlook Survey") is published on monthly basis on the third Thursday of the month and it is considered to be a good barometer of general business conditions.

Triple Witching Week

Key economic data for the third  week of March 2010 starting March 15th, 2010. On Friday March 19, 2010 we have expiration of options. This week know as Triple Witching week, as options, index options and futures will expire during this week.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
03/15/10 8:30 AM	Empire Manufacturing Survey	Mar	21.45	24.91
03/15/10 9:00 AM	Net Long-Term TIC Flows	Dec	$50.0B	$63.3B
03/15/10 9:15 AM	Capacity Utilization	Feb	72.6%	72.6%
03/15/10 9:15 AM	Industrial Production	Feb	0.0%	0.9%
03/16/10 2:15 PM	FOMC Rate Decision	Mar 16	0.25%	0.25%
03/16/10 8:30 AM	Building Permits	Feb	602K	622K
03/16/10 8:30 AM	Housing Starts	Feb	570K	591K
03/16/10 8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Feb	NA	0.4%
03/16/10 8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Feb	NA	0.7%
03/17/10 8:30 AM	Core PPI	Feb	0.1%	0.3%
03/17/10 8:30 AM	PPI	Feb	-0.2%	1.4%
03/17/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	03/13	NA	1.43M
03/18/10 8:30 AM	Core CPI	Feb	0.1%	-0.1%
03/18/10 8:30 AM	CPI	Feb	0.1%	0.2%
03/18/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	03/13	450K	462K
03/18/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	03/6	4500K	4558K
03/18/10 8:30 AM	Current Account Balance	Q4	-$120.0B	-$108.0B
03/18/10 10:00 AM	Leading Indicators	Feb	0.1%	0.3%
03/18/10 10:00 AM	Philadelphia Fed	Mar	18.0	17.6

Retail Sales

The Census Bureau releases the Retail Sales data that measure the merchandise sold by companies. The Retailed Sales report is published on monthly basis and is considered as an indicator of the U.S. economy. It includes all retail operations (for cash or credit at retail or wholesale) in the nation, from Wal-Mart to the local bookstore.

The Retail Sales Data measures the amount of goods being sold by establishments primarily engaged in retail trade each month in the United States. It does not include sales at retail by manufacturers, wholesalers, service establishments, and others whose primary activity is other than retail trade.

Treasury Budget

Key economic data for the second week of March 2010 starting March 8th, 2010. The coming week is not rich on economic reports.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
03/10/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Feb	-$210.0B	-$42.6B
03/10/10 10:00 AM	Wholesale Inventories	Jan	0.2%	-0.8%
03/10/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	03/06	NA	4.03M
03/11/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	2/27	4495K	4500K
03/11/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	03/06	460K	469K
03/11/10 8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Jan	-$41.0B	-$40.2B
03/12/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales	Feb	0.2%	0.5%
03/12/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales ex-auto	Feb	0.0%	0.6%
03/12/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Mar	73.8	73.6
03/12/10 10:00 AM	Business Inventories	Jan	0.2%	-0.2%

Pending Home Sale

In January 2005, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) introduced a new series of reports to overcome the lagging effect of the existing home sales definition. The new report is called Pending Home Sales and is published on monthly basis (first week of the month). The Pending Home Sales data are based on sales of existing homes where the contract has been signed (house was sold on paper) but the transaction has not been closed, which could be considered roughly equivalent to the new home sales. When a home sale contract is sign a broker considers it as a sale and reports it as a sale. However, until transaction is not closed this sale is considered as pending and not closed. Taking into account that some sales contracts are never consummated, pending contract cannot be considered as existing home sale.

The pending Home Sales data are are expressed as an index and were recalculated back to 2001 where the the index has been set to equal 100.0. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) is considered as leading indicator of the activity in the housing market and this index is used to predict Existing Home Sales (Pending becomes Existing in several months) as well as predict actual home sales activity.

Fed's Beige Book Week

Key economic data for the First week of March 2010 starting March 1st, 2010. Futures, options and index options will expire in March.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
03/01/10 8:30 AM	Personal Income	Jan	0.4%	0.4%
03/01/10 8:30 AM	Personal Spending	Jan	0.4%	0.2%
03/01/10 8:30 AM	PCE Prices - Core	Jan	0.1%	0.1%
03/01/10 10:00 AM	Construction Spending	Jan	-0.5%	-1.2%
03/01/10 10:00 AM	ISM Index	Feb	57.8	58.4
03/02/10 2:00 PM	Auto Sales	Feb	NA	3.8M
03/02/10 2:00 PM	Truck Sales	Feb	NA	4.4M
03/03/10 2:00 PM	Fed's Beige Book	Mar	NA	NA
03/03/10 7:30 AM	Challenger Job Cuts YoY	Feb	NA	-70.4%
03/03/10 8:15 AM	ADP Employment Change	Feb	-10K	-22K
03/03/10 10:00 AM	ISM Services	Feb	51.0	50.5
03/03/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	2/26	NA	3.03M
03/04/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	02/27	475K	495K
03/04/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	02/20	NA	4617K
03/04/10 8:30 AM	Productivity-Rev.	Q4	6.2%	6.2%
03/04/10 8:30 AM	Unit Labor Costs	Q4	-4.4%	-4.4%
03/04/10 10:00 AM	Factory Orders	Jan	1.2%	1.0%
03/04/10 10:00 AM	Pending Home Sales	Jan	1.7%	1.0%
03/05/10 3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Jan	-$3.8B	-$1.7B
03/05/10 8:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	Feb	9.8%	9.7%
03/05/10 8:30 AM	Nonfarm Payrolls	Feb	-20K	-20K
03/05/10 8:30 AM	Hourly Earnings	Feb	0.2%	0.2%
03/05/10 8:30 AM	Average Workweek	Feb	33.7	33.9

New Home Sales

New Home Sales statistics report is published by the United States Census Bureau on monthly basis. The report covers the number of sales of newly constructed residences in the United States of America and is considered as an economical indicator of the economy's health. The new Home Sales numbers are sensitive to the consumer income. As a rule, in growing economy when the consumers average income is growing, the number of newly constructed residences sales is growing. At the same time, a reversal down in New Home Sales report could serve as an early indicator of slow down in the economy and possibility of coming depression. Furthermore, the release of New Home Sales report may have significant impact on Wall Street.

GDP Estimates

Key economic data for the forth week (last week) of February 2010 starting February 23th, 2010. There are no economic reports on Monday February 22nd, 2010. Last week FED announcement of rate increase to 0.75% did not affect the sentiment on the stock market.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
02/23/10 9:00 AM	Case-Shiller 20-city Index	Dec	-3.1%	-5.3%
02/23/10 10:00 AM	Consumer Confidence	Feb	55.0	55.9
02/24/10 10:00 AM	New Home Sales	Jan	355K	342K
02/24/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	2/19	NA	3.08M
02/25/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	02/20	460K	473K
02/25/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	02/13	4570K	4563K
02/25/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders	Jan	1.5%	0.3%
02/25/10 10:00 AM	FHFA Housing Price Index	Dec	NA	0.7&
02/26/10 8:30 AM	GDP - Second Estimate	Q4	5.7%	5.7%
02/26/10 8:30 AM	GDP Deflator - Second Estimate	Q4	0.6%	0.6%
02/26/10 9:45 AM	Chicago PMI	Feb	59.0	61.5
02/26/10 9:55 AM	U Michigan Consumer Sentiment - Final	Feb	74.0	73.7
02/26/10 10:00 AM	Existing Home Sales	Jan	5.50M	5.45M

Building Permits

The Building Permits is a leading economic indicator tracked by U.S. Census Bureau that is used to track the housing industry. While the statistics is used by local governments and organizations to receive valuable information about local community, the data are used by the Census Bureau for annual creation of population estimates.

The Building Permits (also known as Constructions Permits) Statistics provides construction statistics on new privately-owned residential housing units authorized by building permits. The statistics data include number of buildings, units, and construction cost from new privately-owned residential building permits issued.

These Building Permits Statistics data are updated on monthly basis. In additional annual report is published as well.

The Building Permits statistics usually allows analyze and estimate possible development in the trend (decrease or increase) of construction, employment, financing and even furnishings. Because of that this statistics are often considered as a leading indicator of the economy.

Treasury Budget

Key economic data for the third week (last week) of February 2010 starting February 16th, 2010. This is a short week - only four trading session. On Monday February 15, 2010 the U.S. stock market will be closed due to the President's Day. This week is the options expiration week as well. On Friday February 20, 2010 U.S. February's options will expire. Keep in mind that starting from February 11, 2010 U.S. options have new symbols structure.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
02/16/10 8:30 AM	Empire Manufacturing	Feb	18.00	15.92
02/16/10 9:00 AM	Net Long-Term TIC Flows	Dec	$50.0B	$126.8B
02/17/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Jan	-$46.0B	-$91.9B
02/17/10 2:00 PM	Minutes of FOMC Meeting	1/28
02/17/10 8:30 AM	Housing Starts	Jan	580K	557K
02/17/10 8:30 AM	Building Permits	Jan	615K	653K
02/17/10 8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Jan	NA	0.5%
02/17/10 8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Jan	NA	0.4%
02/17/10 9:15 AM	Industrial Production	Jan	0.8%	0.6%
02/17/10 9:15 AM	Capacity Utilization	Jan	72.6%	72.0%
02/18/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	02/6	4500K	4538K
02/18/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	02/13	430K	440K
02/18/10 8:30 AM	PPI	Jan	0.8%	0.2%
02/18/10 8:30 AM	Core PPI	Jan	0.1%	0.0%
02/18/10 10:00 AM	Leading Indicators	Jan	0.5%	1.1%
02/18/10 10:00 AM	Philadelphia Fed	Feb	17.0	15.2
02/18/10 11:00 AM	Crude Inventories	2/12	NA	2.42M
02/19/10 8:30 AM	CPI	Jan	0.3%	0.1%
02/19/10 8:30 AM	Core CPI	Jan	0.2%	0.1%

Mich Sentiment

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (also known as Mich Sentiment) is almost identical to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence index. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is released twice a month. Preliminary release is scheduled at 10:00 ET on the second Friday of the month, and final release is scheduled at 10:00 ET on the fourth Friday of the month. The same as Conference Board index, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index has two sub-indexes which cover expectations and current conditions. The expectations sub-index is used as a component of the Conference Board's Leading Indicators index.

The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is considered one of the foremost indicators of US consumer sentiment. The Consumer Sentiment Index has valued for its quick turnarounds. As a rule falling economy is accompanied by declining in consumer confidence levels and falling sentiment index is considered as an early indicator of an economic downturn.

Retail Sales

Key economic data for the second week of February 2010 starting February 8th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
02/09/10 10:00 AM	Wholesale Inventories	Dec	0.6%	1.5%
02/10/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Jan	-$60.0B	-$91.9B
02/10/10 8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Dec	-$35.0B	-$36.4B
02/10/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	2/5	NA	2.32M
02/11/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	02/06	NA	NA
02/11/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	02/06	NA	NA
02/11/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales	Jan	0.4%	-0.3%
02/11/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales ex-auto	Jan	0.4%	-0.2%
02/11/10 10:00 AM	Business Inventories	Dec	0.4%	0.4%
02/12/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Feb	74.8	74.4

Construction Spending

The "Construction Spending" report is issued by the United States Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce on a monthly basis at 10:00 EST n the first business day of the month.

The "Construction Spending" reports covers data for two prior month and is broken down between residential, non-residential, and public expenditures on new construction.

The U.S. Commerce Department calculations of the amount of spending on residential and non-residential construction is an important factor in the housing market and is used as a component of quarterly GDP calculations. Even the "Construction Spending" report is considered to be important, as a rule, it rarely has any impact on the market. Due to the high volatility in monthly numbers three-month and longer-term data are considered significant.

Sales and Labor

Key economic data for the first week of February 2010 starting February 2nd, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
02/01/10 8:30 AM	Personal Income	Dec	0.3%	0.4%
02/01/10 8:30 AM	Personal Spending	Dec	0.3%	0.5%
02/01/10 10:00 AM	Construction Spending	Dec	-0.5%	-0.6%
02/01/10 10:00 AM	ISM Index	Jan	55.2	55.9
02/02/10 2:00 PM	Auto Sales	Jan	NA	4.14M
02/02/10 2:00 PM	Truck Sales	Jan	NA	4.49M
02/02/10 10:00 AM	Pending Home Sales	Dec	1.1%	-16.0%
02/03/10 7:30 AM	Challenger Job Cuts	Jan	NA	-72.9%
02/03/10 8:15 AM	ADP Employment Change	Jan	-40K	-84K
02/03/10 10:00 AM	ISM Services	Jan	50.9	50.1
02/03/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	1/29	NA	-3.89M
02/04/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	01/30	454K	470K
02/04/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	01/30	4600K	4602K
02/04/10 8:30 AM	Productivity-Prel	Q4	6.0%	8.1%
02/04/10 8:30 AM	Unit Labor Costs - Preliminary	Q4	-2.5%	-2.5%
02/04/10 10:00 AM	Factory Orders	Dec	0.6%	1.1%
02/05/10 3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Dec	-$9.5B	-$17.5B
02/05/10 8:30 AM	Nonfarm Payrolls	Jan	13K	-85K
02/05/10 8:30 AM	Unemployment Rate	Jan	10.0%	10.0%
02/05/10 8:30 AM	Average Workweek	Jan	33.2	33.2
02/05/10 8:30 AM	Hourly Earnings	Jan	0.2%	0.2%

Existing-Home Sales

The Existing-Home Sales statistics report is published by the United States National Association of Realtors (NAR) and is the premier measurement of the residential real estate market. The existing homes (as defined by the National Association of Realtors) are all previously-owned single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, and co-ops. The Existing-Home Sales report is published on monthly basis on or about the 25th. The report releases statistics on sales and prices of existing single-family homes. The statistics is released for the nation as well as for the four main regions. On February 25, 2005,  in addition to single-family homes, the National Association of Realtors added condos and co-ops to this statistics report. At the same time on quarterly basis the NAR publishes state-by-state existing-home sales and metro area home prices report.

Existing-Home Sales is considered as an economic indicator of both the number and prices of existing single-family homes, condos and co-op sales over a one-month period. It is a lagging indicator as it tends to react after a change in mortgage rates. This indicator is thought to be a good measure of demand in the real-estate sector, yet, it does not look at newly built houses or the sale of new houses.

Week of Home Sale Reports

Key economic data for the forth week (last week) of January 2010 starting January 25th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
01/25/10 10:00 AM	Existing Home Sales	Dec	5.90M	6.54M
01/26/10 9:00 AM	Case-Shiller 20-city Index	Nov	-5.00%	-7.28%
01/26/10 10:00 AM	Consumer Confidence	Jan	53.5	53.3
01/26/10 10:00 AM	FHFA Home Price Index	Nov	0.1%	0.6%
01/27/10 2:15 PM	FOMC Rate Decision	1/27	0.25%	0.25%
01/27/10 10:00 AM	New Home Sales	Dec	370K	355K
01/27/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	1/22	NA	-0.471M
01/28/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	01/23	450K	482K
01/28/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	01/16	4600K	4599K
01/28/10 8:30 AM	Durable Orders	Dec	2.0%	0.2%
01/29/10 8:30 AM	GDP-Adv.	Q4	4.6%	2.2%
01/29/10 8:30 AM	Chain Deflator-Adv.	Q4	1.3%	0.4%
01/29/10 8:30 AM	Employment Cost Index	Q4	0.4%	0.4%
01/29/10 9:45 AM	Chicago PMI	Jan	57.4	58.7
01/29/10 9:55 AM	University of Michigan Sentiment	Jan	73.0	72.8

Housing Starts

Housing starts is the number tracked and reported by United States Census
Bureau which reflect privately owned new houses (technically housing units) on
which construction has been started in a given period. The Housing Starts data
is divided into three types:

• Single-family houses;
• Townhouses or small condos;
• Apartment buildings with five or more units.

In case of the apartments each unit is considered a single start.
Furthermore, the construction of a 60-unit apartment building is counted as 60
housing starts.

Home Buildings and Sales

Key economic data for the third week of January 2010 starting January 19th, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
01/19/10 9:00 AM	Net Long-Term TIC Flows	Nov	$27.5B	$20.7B
01/20/10 8:30 AM	Building Permits	Dec	580K	584K
01/20/10 8:30 AM	Core PPI	Dec	0.1%	0.5%
01/20/10 8:30 AM	Housing Starts	Dec	575K	574K
01/20/10 8:30 AM	PPI	Dec	0.0%	1.8%
01/21/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	01/16	440K	444K
01/21/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	1/09	4600K	4596K
01/21/10 10:00 AM	Leading Indicators	Dec	0.7%	0.9%
01/21/10 10:00 AM	Philadelphia Fed	Jan	18.8	20.4
01/21/10 11:00 AM	Crude Inventories	1/15	NA	3.70M

Straddle Trading

One of the ways of using economic reports, financial news and earning releases is using them in straddle trading. Straddle trading is an options trading strategy that involves simultaneous buying put and call options with the same strike price - the most common way is to use ATM (at-the-money) options.

Straddle trading provides a unique opportunity to profit from options trading no matter where the market goes. However, in order a straddle to be profitable, an underlying stock has to make big move.

As a rule earning release, FED announcements and other scheduled financial and economic reports could be used to expect such big moves and increased volatility. Right after the economic releases you may see sudden increase in volatility and as result, there a possibility that if a stock makes a strong move up the call options will gain in value more than the put options lose in their value. Respectfully, following economic news release, the strong down move may result in the put options gain would out-beating the call options loss.

Export an Import

Key economic data for the Second week of January 2010 starting January 11th, 2010. This week is options expiration week. January 2010 options will expire on Friday, January 15, 2010.

Economic Calendar key:
Consensus represents the market consensus estimate for each indicator.
Prior represents the last actual for each indicator.

Date	Release	For	Consensus	Prior
01/12/10 8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Nov	-$34.5B	-$32.9B
01/13/10 2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Dec	-$92.0B	-$120.3B
01/13/10 2:00 PM	Fed's Beige Book
01/13/10 10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	1/08	NA	1.33M
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Initial Claims	01/09	433K	434K
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	1/2	4800K	4802K
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales	Dec	0.5%	1.3%
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Retail Sales ex-auto	Dec	0.3%	1.2%
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Dec	NA	0.7%
01/14/10 8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Dec	NA	0.4%
01/14/10 10:00 AM	Business Inventories	Nov	0.2%	0.2%
01/15/10 8:30 AM	Core CPI	Dec	0.1%	0.0%
01/15/10 8:30 AM	CPI	Dec	0.2%	0.4%
01/15/10 8:30 AM	Empire Manufacturing Survey	Jan	11.25	2.55
01/15/10 9:15 AM	Capacity Utilization	Dec	71.8%	71.3%
01/15/10 9:15 AM	Industrial Production	Dec	0.6%	0.8%
01/15/10 9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Jan	73.8	72.5