Philadelphia leaders are anticipating an economic boost from the up to 1.5 million visitors expected for Pope Francis’ visit this weekend, but skeptics say hopes for a big windfall are overblown. Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter said this week the pope’s visit and the four-day World Meeting of Families, a Catholic gathering, is expected to generate $419 million for the local economy, almost all from the pope. The flood of visitors to see the pope on the last stop of his six-day U.S. visit has brought downtown hotel occupancy to more than 90 percent, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported this week, citing the local hotels association.

Hello, you’re watching the Economic Calendar for Thursday and I’m Sinead MacLaughlin with a rundown of news releases scheduled for the 19th of November.
Starting things off at 7 AM is the Swiss Trade Balance for October. Trade surplus widened in September as imports fell faster than exports.
UK Retail Sales for October are out at 9:30. September sales came in much stronger than anticipated, driven by a strong growth in online spending.
European Central Bank will release the closely watched Minutes of its October meeting at half past noon. The previous meeting brought hints the ECB may expand its QE program in December, so the Minutes should provide more insight.
The closely watched weekly update on US Jobless Claims is up next at 1:30 PM GMT. Preliminary claims stood unchanged during the week ending November 7, whereas the continuing claims went up by 5 thousand during the week ending October 31.
Canadian Wholesale Trade for September will be available at this time as well. Sales have been declining for the past two months.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook for November follows at 3. The October data surprised on the downside as new orders and shipments both went down.
US Leading Index for October is out at the same time. The Index slipped in September as a drop in stock markets, manufacturing and housing permits reversed gains in financial indices.
And New Zealand Credit Card Spending for October concludes the schedule at 2 AM. Spending continued to grow in September but at a slower pace than the 10.4% annual gain recorded the previous month.
You’ve been watching the Economic Calendar for Thursday. Check back in for the next overview of key events for Friday. Goodbye.

U.S. economic activity picked up in recent weeks as a weather-related drag lifted, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. In its Beige Book report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts nationwide, the U.S. central bank said eight of its 12 districts characterized growth as “modest to moderate.” Chicago reported that growth had picked up, while New York and Philadelphia said activity had rebounded from slowdowns related to severe weather earlier in the year.