This week's holiday schedule pushed USDA's weekly export sales report to Friday, but weekly U.S. jobless claims, a report on fourth quarter U.S. GDP and an update of the U.S. Drought Monitor will all be out at 7:30 a.m. CST Thursday. The Energy Department's weekly natural gas storage report is due out at 9:30 a.m., followed by the weekly inventory report and January U.S. new home sales at 10 a.m. CST. Traders continue to put a lot of attention on Ukraine and the latest weather forecasts.
Weather
Snow, freezing precipitation and very cold conditions are in store for the central U.S. Thursday. Periods of snow will extend from the western Plains east through the Midwest. Meanwhile, a swath of freezing precipitation will produce a glaze of ice from the southeastern Plains to the southern Midwest. Northern areas have another day of harsh wind chill conditions, and the Mid-South is at risk for flooding from locally heavy rain.