[1]

• Pending Homes Index fell 1% in March and is looking to be coming in at 20% year over year declines.   Again the real story is when you look at specific markets.  For example the Northeast did better, up 12.5%, so these numbers are somewhat meaningless unless you are looking for an overall trend, which currently is still down.  Individual neighborhoods can be an entirely different story depending on where you are looking and at what price range.  Tight money is still in play which means buyers are still finding it difficult to obtain loans.(Wednesday)

• [2] Jobless Claims, came in at 365,000, lower than last week.  [3] Chain Store Sales reported the best numbers since January, good news for retailers.
• Bank of England (BOE) Announcement, as expected came in at maintaining it’s key rate at 5%.  The message here is that it still sees inflation as a real threat.

• [4] International Trade -The US trade balance shrank, which is good news for the dollar.  Only bad news here is that less imports points to a weak economy.(Friday)

[5]

• Bonds…2 year 2.22%, 5 yr. 2.95% and the 10 yr. 3.76%.
• Crude oil finished at $125.96 per barrel, and some are now predicting $200 per barrel by Christmas.

Of note this past week:

Dow closed down 121 points for the day, down 312 points for the week.  Oil was to blame and will continue to put a huge damper on the markets.  There are some important reports coming out this week, but all eyes seem to be on oil.
The Economic Week Ahead:

• [6] Retail Sales , [7] Business Inventories, (Tuesday)

• [8] [9] Consumer Price Index , (Wednesday)

• [10] Jobless Claims , [11] Industrial Production, [12] Philidelphia Fed Survey, [13] Empire State Manufacturing Survey, [14] Housing Market Index(Thursday)

• [15] Housing Starts, [16] Consumer Sentiment(Friday)

Have a great week!