EMU: Consumer Confidence (flash) improves slightly to -23.6 in February

The US Stock market experienced a definitely negative opening Wednesday after the reporting of economic data earlier and in anticipation of the FOMC minutes later today at 19:00 GMT. Earlier today in the United States, Building Permits (MoM) were reported at 0.925M in January, beating estimates of only 0.915M. Meanwhile the vaunted Producer Price index ex Food and Energy (MoM and YoY) grew +0.2% in January (in line with expectations of +0.2%), and +1.8% (exceeding projections calling for only +1.6%) respectively. Finally, the Producer Price Index (MoM and YoY) climbed only +0.2% in January (slightly missing a consensus of +0.3%) and yielded +1.4% in January (consistent with projections) respectively.