There were more fireworks in the US yesterday, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Trump to reschedule the State of the Union because of the government shutdown. She sent a letter to the president asking him to deliver the address in writing, or pick a different date because of security issues related to the shutdown.
We also saw that a bipartisan group of senators are sending a letter to Trump in an attempt to force a compromise and reopen the government for three weeks. It is hoped that an agreement can be reached and Congress can debate border security during the three weeks. Mortgage applications up to 11 January 2019 increased by 13.5 percent following a 23.5% gain the previous week.
The only release of note today is initial jobless claims up to 12 January 2019. Last time the figures were extremely impressive and easily beat forecasts, but this time they are expected to nudge a little higher to 220,000.
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