The table below itemizes the major events and analysis this week.  The full review article is USA High Labor Cost Not Primary Reason For Jobs Export.

Weekly Economic Release Scorecard:

Item	Headline	Analysis
January Balance of Trade	Grew $2.3 billion	Trade balance is currently trending lower
December Wholesale Sales	Up 0.4%	Historical high for Decembers
William Black: How Wallison is Blind to Accounting Control Fraud		Deregulation, desupervision and de facto decriminalization drove accounting fraud
January Diesel Consumption	Off 0.3%	Blame it on the weather
Mortgage Applications down		This statistic is Irrelevant – there a lot of cash home purchases
Exporting Jobs		Explores relationship between goods trade import & jobs growth
2010 Rail traffic	Up 8.0%	Will growth continue into 2011?
January Small Business Sentiment	Up 1.5 points	Small Business optimism growing fast then consumer optimism
December JOLTS		Hiring and Separations are equal
Mortgage Defaults		Increase consumer spending?
December Consumer Credit	Up 2.5%	Improved yes MoM – but below “normal” December rises.
Income Distribution		Destabilizing and may have been a factor in the lead up to the Great Recession
China’s 2010 GDP	Up 10.3%	When will China be the largest economy?
Opinion: China Currency Manipulation		Michael Pettis explores what is good and bad for China and the USA
Opinion: Investor vs Working Class		Derryl Hermanutz says you need a strong natural resource sector.