26. August 2007 by Ana Connell.

Monday 27

Existing Home Sales-consensus 5.70M….. Year to year this number has dropped 11.4% and housing supply at 8.8 months.  June sales were down 3.8%.

3 & 6 Month Bill Auction

Tuesday 28

ICSC-USB Store Sales  Tracks comparable weekly sales from major retail chains and represents 10% of total retail sales.  Is considered to be one of the most timely indicators of consumer spending.

Redbook a timely indicator of consumer spending and also represents about 10% of total retail sales.  This measure tracks weekly sales from discounters, chain and department stores.

Consumer Confidence -Consensus 105

FOMC Minutes

4 Week Bill Auction & 20 Year Tips Auction

Wednesday 29

MBA Purchase Applications measures applications at mortgage lenders.  This is considered a leading indicator for single family home sales and housing construction.

EIA Petroleum Status Report reports on crude oil inventories in the U.S.

2 Year Note Auction

Thursday 30

GDP Consensus 4.0%

Corporate Profits 

Jobless Claims Unemployment claims.  Consensus 320K

Help Wanted Index

EIA Natural Gas Report-Tracks natural gas inventories.

3 and 6 month Treasury Bill Announcement Investors use this data to attempt to predict future Federal Reserve policy.

5 Year Auction

Money Supply

Friday 31

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo .

Personal Income Outlays-Consensus .3% Consumer spending Consensus is .4% Another measure to gauge consumer spending power.

NAPM-Chicago-Consensus 53-Business conditions in the Chicago area, another measure of economic growth.

Farm Prices

Consumer Sentiment Consensus 82.5

Factory Orders Consensus 3.2%

Last Friday’s new home sales report did raise some hopes that maybe things might be turning around.  We’ll see what the week ahead brings!

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26. August 2007 by Ana Connell.

This post highlights certain items of interest coming up at the next Burbank City Council Meeting.

This week the Burbank City Council will be discussing the following items of interest:

Quiet Zone

This resolution, if passed, will look into designating the Buena Vista Street rail crossing a quiet zone. What this means to you is that for a 1/2 mile either way, trains cannot sound their horns.

Glenoaks Rehab

Council is looking into approving an agreement with City of Glendale where a Burbank portion of Glenoaks Bl. would be included in City of Glendale’s rehabilitation project. City of Burbank would contribute a portion of the cost, not to exceed $108,530.

The Burbank City Council meets at City Council Chambers in City Hall, 275 E. Olive Ave. Tuesday at 6:30pm.

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19. August 2007 by Ana Connell.

                                  
Monday  20

Leading Indicators-Consensus .4% -Report looks at ten different sources that are supposed to indicate overall economic activity.  This figure tends to be revised after the fact and does not do a great job of predicting downturns or upturns.

3 Month & 6 Month Bill Auction

Tuesday 21

ICSC-USB Store Sales  Tracks comparable weekly sales from major retail chains and represents 10% of total retail sales.  Is considered to be one of the most timely indicators of consumer spending.

Redbook a timely indicator of consumer spending and also represents about 10% of total retail sales.  This measure tracks weekly sales from discounters, chain and department stores.

State Street Investor Confidence Index Measures actual levels of risk in investor portofolio.

4-week Bill AuctionWednesday 22

MBA Purchase Applications-Measures Mortgage Lender applications, this is considered a leading indicator of single family home sales!

EIA  Petroleum Status Report-Measures petroleum inventories in the US

Thursday 23 

Jobless Claims Unemployment claims. Consensus 310KEIA Natural Gas Report

Money Supply
Friday 24

New Home Sales Consensus 820,000-Housing supply stands at 7.8 months for new homes and 8.8 months for existing homes.  New Home sales were down by 6.6% in June.

Durable Goods Orders Consensus  1.0%-This report takes into account the current and future number of orders placed with factories.  By showing how busy factories will be in the coming months you can get an indication of economic activity and health of the overall economy.

Aside from any subprime news , Asia’s reaction to the Federal Reserve’s surprise rate cut  last Friday will be front and center.

Last week was interesting as equities spiraled down the first four days to rebound on Friday, aided by the Fed’s surprise rate cut.  We did see wide swings throughout the week, sometimes 300 points, during the course of a single day.  One of the things that caused last week’s credit crunch was that banks were beginning to wait on incoming payments before making payments to their creditors in order to avoid being in the negative on cash. The Fed essentially told banks not to worry about waiting on payments because they can go to the discount window and get the reserves you need. The Fed also expanded the loan period to 30 days to those needing it.

Questions to ponder……

Will the Fed cut rates?

Will Consumer spending/strength continue?

Will Crude oil prices, the middle east situation or any other fly in the ointment impact stock prices and interest rates?

Have a great week everyone!

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17. August 2007 by Ana Connell.

And what a week it was!

We saw housing starts and permits fall to their lowest level since 1996!  Then Merrill Lynch put out a report suggesting that Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, could go bankrupt, naturally they lowered the stock rating to a sell.  Next day, Countrywide had to tap it’s $11.5 billion dollar bank line to finance it’s operations.  Not good news.

Today the Fed took action to lower the discount rate by .5% to 5.75% and infuse dollars into the system to try and counteract the liquidity squeeze that we are seeing.  This was viewed as an extraordinary move as the Fed has not reacted this way since 2001.

This action by the Fed did serve to stem the market losses for the week and give us the biggest rally in four years for the S&P 500.

The subprime fallout is still surging through the markets……we’ll see what or who gets hit next.

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12. August 2007 by Ana Connell.

Monday 13

Retail Sales- Consensus 0.2

Business Inventories-Consensus .4%
3 Month & 6 Month Bill Auction

Tuesday 14

Producer Price Index  PPI Consensus Forecast for July 07: +0.1 percent

ICSC-USB Store Sales  Tracks comparable weekly sales from major retail chains and represents 10% of total retail sales.  Is considered to be one of the most timely indicators of consumer spending.Redbook a timely indicator of consumer spending and also represents about 10% of total retail sales.  This measure tracks weekly sales from discounters, chain and department stores.

International Trade Gauges economic trends by measuring levels of imports and exports.

4 Week bill Auction

Wednesday 15Housing Market Index-Produced by the National Association of Home Builders.  This is a survey which is filled out by the members of this organization and it gives their opinion of the general state of the housing market and the economy.

Empire State Manufacturing Survey-monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State.Consensus 18

Industrial Production Consensus  $-61.0B

Treasury Int’l Capital-measures foreign demand for our debt and assets by tracking flows of financial instruments into and out of the U.S.

CPI-Consumer Price Index- measures average price of a fixed set of goods and services used by consumers.

MBA Purchase Applications measures applications at mortgage lenders.  This is considered a leading indicator for single family home sales and housing construction.

EIA Petroleum Status Report reports on crude oil inventories in the U.S.

Thursday 16

Housing Starts Consensus 1.410M  Starts slipped in May by a revised 3.4%, followed by a rebound of 2.3% Starts are projected to remain weak for July.

Jobless Claims Unemployment claims. Consensus 315k

EIA Natural Gas Report-Tracks natural gas inventories.

Leading Indicators -Consensus -.1%

Philidelphia Fed Survey- Consensus 8.0…the lower the number indicates a slower growth rate for manufacturing.

3 , 6 month Treasury Bill Annoucement  Investors use this data to attempt to predict future Federal Reserve policy.

Money Supply

Friday 17

Consumer Sentiment Consensus 88

Well, last week was interesting to say the least!

We saw an extremely volatile week as it looks like the subprime mess is seeping into other parts of the economy.  Stocks ended the week a bit higher, first time in 4 weeks, betting that the government will provide some sort of bail out for this mess.  Basically the subprime loans that were packaged into funds that people could invest in have little or in most cases no liquidity, which means people can’t get their money out.  Additionally you have all the folks looking at foreclosure because they can’t pay their higher mortgage payments as they readjust.

Some interesting reports due out this week, so we’ll see what happens next!

Have a great week!

Remember to click on the links for more information on each report.

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