Inside Markets — Important Data Thursday

In the short-term, markets tend to ignore whether the overall economy is good or bad but focus on whether things are getting better or worse.  While recent data suggests US economic growth may be getting worse at the margin, it’s important to recognize the economy remains in a good place (credit spreads remain at benign levels).  In the intermediate term, equities follow earnings estimate revisions and analysts will require more evidence (hard data) of a slowdown before they start taking numbers down.  Weekly jobless claims data is a high frequency check on the economy with the latest numbers due Thursday.