This Sunday while the US is fast asleep, economic data from the other side of the globe including New Zealand, Japan China and Great Britain. This weekend, a variety of diffusion indices will be released, and in simple terms, a diffusion index analyzes the degree to which components of a particular index are moving in agreement with the dominant direction of the index itself. The diffusion indices reporting this weekend are leading indicators that tend to change in advance of the entire economy shifting and are useful short-term predictors of the economy. Releasing on Sunday December 15, 2013 (all times provided are Eastern Standard Time):4:00pm: NZ's Westpac Consumer Sentiment6:50pm: JPY's Tankan Manufacturing Index and Non-Manufacturing Index7:01pm: GBP's Rightmove HPI (m/m)8:45pm: CNY's HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI