U.S. weekly jobless claims, December U.S. housing starts and an update of the U.S. Drought Monitor will all be out at 7:30 a.m. CST Thursday. The U.S. Energy Department's natural gas storage report will attract interest at 9:30 a.m., now that gas prices are near $3.00 and will be followed by weekly energy inventories, including ethanol production at 10 a.m. USDA's monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry outlook is set for 2 p.m.
Weather
A strong winter storm that brought heavy snow to portions of the Central Plains and Midwest and heavy rain farther south continues east on Thursday, with more of the precipitation focused on the Midwest into the Northeast going into Friday. Another system is moving through the West, which will emerge in the Southern Plains on Friday. Even behind the current system, temperatures for most areas are above normal for this time of year.