Here Are The Key Market Moving Events For Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Six flags will report
quarterly results on Wednesday, February 15,
2011.Wikimedia
Commons

Wednesday follows a busy earnings day, with more than two dozen
major announcers.  At the same time, a series of economic releases
will keep markets moving. 

Here's what you need to know. 

South Korea starts the day off early with unemployment at
6:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday evening.  Economists predict the
country's jobless rate will tick up 10 basis points in January to
3.2 percent. 

Retail sales in Singapore will be released when the clock
strikes midnight.  Sales are seen declining 0.1 percent
month-on-month in December.  That's better than a 0.6 percent drop
in November. 

Attention shifts to Europe at 1:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday
morning, with a preliminary reading of fourth quarter GDP in
France.  Economists polled by Bloomberg
expect a 0.2 percent contraction from the third quarter. 

At 2:00 a.m. EST Germany will announce how its economy
performed during the fourth quarter.  Consensus is for a 0.3
percent sequential decline. 

Spanish consumer prices will be announced at the same time. 
The core index is seen declining 1.7 percent month-on-month in
January. 

Italian GDP is set for release at 4:00 a.m. EST, with
expectations for a 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction
during the fourth quarter.  That follows a 0.2 percent fall in the
third quarter. 

U.K. unemployment and new jobless claims comes out at 4:30
a.m. EST, with consensus for 3,000 new filers while the jobless
rate stays flat at 8.4 percent.  New claims have fallen well below
expectations in both November and December. 

Total euro zone gross domestic product follows the individual
announcements at 5:00 a.m. EST.  Economists see the key
indicator declining 0.4 percent during the final quarter of 2011. 

At 8:30 a.m. EST, Empire Manufacturing will be announced in
the U.S., with consensus for an increase to 15 from last month's
13.48 reading. 

U.S. announcements continue at 9:15 a.m. EST, with industrial
production and capacity utilization.  Production is expected to
rise 0.7 percent in January, while capacity utilization perks up
50 basis points to 78.6 percent. 

Closing out the day at 2:00 p.m. EST is the release of the
Federal Open Markets Committee minutes from January 24 and
25.