Thursday's Events: Final US Q1 GDP, Initial Jobless Claims, U.S. Existing Home Sales

A final look at U.S. first quarter GDP and initial jobless claims will be the key releases of the morning followed by the releasing of U.S. existing home sales. Europeans will be paying attention to comments from J�rgen Stark of the European Central Bank and energy traders will focus on the release of weekly U.S. natural gas inventories.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release final first quarter GDP figures. Annualized growth is expected to be revised up to a 1.0% rate of expansion compared to the previous estimate of a 0.9% growth rate. Personal consumption, the GDP price index and core PCE are expected to remain unrevised from the previous +1.0%, +2.6% and +2.1% respective growth rates.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of Labor will release initial and continuing jobless claims for the weeks ending June 21 and 14 respectively. Economists expected initial jobless claims to rise to 375k compared to the previous week's 381k rise. Continuing claims are expected to reach 3105k compared to the 3060k reported in the previous week.

At 9 a.m. EDT, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard (non-voter) will speak at an international monetary policy research conference hosted by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The event is closed to the press and the Fed will not release a text of the comments.

At 9:30 a.m. EDT, Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Phillip Swagel will deliver remarks on the U.S. economy to the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships in Washington, D.C.

At 10 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Conference Board will release its help wanted index for May. Economists expect no change to the previous month's score of 19.

Also at 10 a.m. EDT, the National Association of Realtors will release existing home sales for May. Economists expect existing sales to reach 4.95 million compared to the previous month's 4.89 million, a 1.2% month-over-month rise. In April, existing home sales had declined 1.0%.

At 10:30 a.m. EDT, the Bank of Canada will sell C$2.5 billion in 2008.07.04 bills.

At 10:35 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release natural gas storage data for the week ending June 20. The consensus is looking for stocks to rise 95 Bcf compared to the previous week's 57 Bcf build.

At 11 a.m. EDT, European Central Bank Governing Council Member J�rgen Stark will speak to a forum hosted by the University of Augsburg.

At 1 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Treasury will sell $20 billion in five-year Treasury notes.

At 4:30 p.m. EDT, the Fed will release its weekly M1 and M2 money supply figures for the week ending June 16. In the previous week, M1 fell $5.9 billion and M2 declined by $6.8 billion.

8:30 US GDP (Q/Q) (Annualized) Q1 Final Exp: +1.0% Prior: +0.9%

8:30 US Personal Consumption Q1 Final Exp: +1.0% Prior: +1.0%

8:30 US GDP Price Index Q1 Final Exp: +2.6% Prior: +2.6%

8:30 US Core PCE (Q/Q) Q1 Final Exp: +2.1% Prior: +2.1%

8:30 US Initial Jobless Claims W/E 21-June Exp: +375K Prior: +381K

8:30 US Continuing Claims W/E June 14 Exp: +3105K Prior: +3060K

9:00 US Fed's Bullard Speaks at ECB Conference on Monetary Policy

9:00 CA Industry Minister Jim Prentice will speak to the press following the release of the Competition Policy Review

10:00 US Help Wanted Index May Exp: +19 Prior: +19

10:00 US Existing Home Sales May Exp: +4.95M Prior: +4.89M

10:00 US Existing Home Sales (M/M) May Exp: +1.2% Prior: -1.0%

10:35 US EIA Natural Gas Storage Change W/E 20-June Exp: +95 BcF Prior: +57 BcF

10:30 CA Bank of Canada will auction off Treasury bills

10:30 CA Commodity Price Index

13:00 US Tsy to Sell USD20B 5-Year Notes

16:30 US M1 and M2 Money Supply W/E June 16 M1 Prior: -$5.9B M2 Prior: -$6.9B

By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Stephen Huebl