The Great Blizzard Of '96 has kept the government shut down for another day. So, we still don't have the Federal Reserve Board's November report on Consumer Installment Credit.

Despite the snow, the Treasury Department held its weekly T-bill auction yesterday. The average discount rate on 3-month bills eased from 5.04% to 5.03%. The rate on 6-month bills also eased slightly, dropping from 5.03% to 5.02%.

The December report on the Producer Price Index and the weekly jobless claims report were scheduled for release tomorrow. But, these reports will just be added to the list of 18 other major economic news releases that have been postponed due to the partial government shutdown that began on December 16.

ABC and Money Magazine jointly sponsor a more-or-less-weekly consumer survey asking repondents how they feel about the economy and their personal finances. The last poll was published on December 20. But, a new poll is due to be released this evening at 6:30 Eastern time. I'll report on the results in tomorrow's Economic Indicators.

Byline: Lafferty (MF Merlin)