Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Initial jobless claims seen at 260k in wk ended Dec. 31 vs 265k prior wk (forecast range 250k to 275k); tallies number of people making first-time claims for unemployment benefits.

• Filings have been below 300k for 95 consecutive weeks, longest period since 1970

(Bloomberg) -- Private payrolls, as tracked by ADP National Employment Report, seen increasing by 175k in Dec. after rising 216k in Nov. (forecast range 140k to 230k); report is based on data from businesses with almost 24m workers on combined payrolls.

• Nov. gain was largest in 5 months

(Bloomberg) -- Monsanto 1Q net sales $2.65b, est. $2.27b (range $1.97b-$2.48b)

• 1Q ongoing EPS 21c, est. 0c (range loss/share 8c-EPS 7c)
• 1Q total seeds and genomics sales $1.85b
• 1Q agricultural productivity sales $802m

• 12 buys, 7 holds, 1 sell before today
• Call 9:30am (NY time), 877-869-3847

Statement

--AMY THOMSON

(Bloomberg) -- Portugal 10-year yield climbs above 4%, first time since February and is poised to close this week firmly above the key 200-week MA, at 3.79%, for the first time since 2012, Bloomberg technical analyst Sejul Gokal writes.

• See LIVE chart
• PGB yield breaking past the 3.94-3.96% resistance area which if sustained into end of week can herald a higher yield environment near-term
• Next yield resistance seen at 4.09% (76.4% Fibonacci), then 4.39% (55-Month MA) and 4.53% (Feb. high)
• PGB-Bund spread touches 372bps, widest since day of Brexit vote result, when it hit 382bps

• NOTE: Sejul Gokal is a technical strategist who writes for Bloomberg. The observations he makes are his own and are not intended as investment advice.