Total consumer credit increased by $28.0 billion, (B) in November, well above the consensus estimate of $19.5B. The increase was far higher than the $20.5B increase in October and the largest increase since November 2001.

Continuous claims as well as new claims for unemployment insurance benefits remain at historic lows. Seasonally adjusted (SA), continuous claims stood at 1.936 million, (M) as of December 9^th, down 47,000 week on week, (w/w).

The economy created 148,000 jobs in December, much lower than the year to date monthly average of 171,000. The total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. in December was 147.380 million (M), an increase of 0.10% month on month, (m/m).

The monthly dollar Broad Index ended December at 96.68. The trading range over the year was between 95.16 (September) and 103.09, (January 2017) over the past 12 months. At 96.68, the dollar Broad Index is down a couple of points from to its year-to-date average of 98.43.

The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. the week ending December 29^th was 929, 747 oil and 182 gas. In percentage terms, on a month on month, (m/m) basis, oil rigs were down 0.3% and gas rigs increased by 1.1%. In numerical terms, there was no change m/m.

Consumer confidence fell in December as the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Composite Index declined by 6.5 points to 122.1, well below analysts’ expectations. This was the largest monthly decline since 2015, but analysts caution that there is no cause for concern.