The Economic Week Ahead….

16. December 2007 by Ana Connell.

Monday 17

Empire State Manufacturing Survey-Consensus 21.5 monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State.

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.

Current Account 

Housing 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.

3 Month & 6 Month Bill Auction

4 Week Bill Announcement

Tuesday 18

Housing Starts Consensus 1.180M Starts rose 3% in October after a downward revision of September starts to -11.4%.

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

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.

4 Week bill Auction

Wednesday 19

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 20

GDP-The broadest measure of economic activity that takes all sectors of the economy into account. More in depth expanation.

Corporate Profits

Leading Indicators-Consensus -.3% -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.

Jobless Claims Unemployment claims. Consensus 335k

Philidelphia Fed Survey- Consensus 6.2…the lower the number indicates a slower growth rate for manufacturing, just to give you a benchmark it was at 10.9 in September.

EIA Natural Gas Report-Tracks natural gas inventories.

Money Supply

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

Friday 21

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

Consumer Sentiment Consensus 74.5 The University of Michigan conducts a monthly survey of 500 households about their financial condition and opinions about the economy.

This week the focus will be on the Treasury data on foreign investments in the U.S.  Housing Market Index  and the Housing Starts will be out on Monday and Tuesday of this week and are considered a gauge of economic activity and momentum.

Have a great week!

Posted in Economic Market Reports, Blogroll | Print | No Comments »