Fiat Economics

Over the past two weeks new uncertainties have begun pouring into the markets, like the deluge of rain currently striking the west coast—I spent part of last week in Los Angeles.  However, unlike what’s happening over the west coast, the storms investors faced were mostly avoidable.   It all began with legitimate concerns over tightening Chinese monetary policy, but quickly moved to the avoidable with doubts over the reconfirmation of Chairman Bernanke, and the potential impact of President Obama’s imprudent policy agenda toward the financial sector.  Barring these uncertainties, this week’s full calendar of economic and earnings data should help shed some light on the health of the U.S. economy and the sustainability of the current recovery.

On the economic side, this week’s main event should be Wednesday’s FOMC announcement, where the fed should continue making incremental changes to the statement bringing us closer to tightening—which I still believe is a ways off.  However, the meeting may be trumped by news of Chairman Bernanke’s reconfirmation, which could take place as early as this week.  Despite what is turning into a bit of a political circus I do expect Mr. Bernanke will be reconfirmed.

Moving away from the Fed the market will be focusing on the first estimate of fourth quarter GDP on Friday, and critical housing data being released throughout the week.  GDP growth should exceed 4%, but many will argue over the sustainability of this growth, which is being heavily supported by accommodative fiscal and monetary policies.  Housing data will likely be mixed with December’s existing home sales coming under some pressure after the would-be expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit.

On the earnings front we should be hearing from almost a quarter of the S&P 500 with some big names including Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Chevron (CVX), and Raytheon (RTN), Research In Motion (RIMM),Verizon (VZ), Yahoo (YHOO).  Other items that will likely drive headlines this week include President Obama’s State of The Union Address, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and an Apple product release (a tablet computer?).  Finally, the central banks of Japan (Monday & Tuesday) and New Zealand (Thursday) are schedule to meet next week, and could drive some headlines

Here is the rest of this week’s US calendar:

Monday, Jan. 25

10:00 a.m. EST: December’s Existing Home Sales (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Significant): What would have been the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit in November could place some downward pressure on December’s existing home sales.  The original rush of home buyers, looking to take advantage of what was an expiring program, have already finished their purchases.  The extension/expiration of the program should eventually help stoke sales, but there will likely be a delay before a new group of home buyers enters the market.  I should also note that increased foreclosure activity during the month, combined with what I anticipate will be weak sales, could increase the inventory of homes for sales.  I expect we could also see some weakness in existing home values.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for existing home sales to decline to 6.1 million in December from 6.5 million a month prior.  Recently, home buyers have been more enticed to purchase existing homes over new homes as they tend to be generally cheaper.  I should also note that the index of pending home sales plunged -16.0% in November, which is an ominous sign.

10:30 a.m. EST: January’s Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index is not highly publicized, but tracks manufacturing activity within the Dallas Feds jurisdiction.  Last month’s survey suggested, “Texas factory activity was flat in December…. The production index, a key indicator of state manufacturing conditions, came in close to zero in December, suggesting output held steady after growing in November for the first time since July 2008.  All indexes for future activity strengthened substantially in December, suggesting a more upbeat six-month outlook. The majority of respondents expect increases in production, new orders and shipments in the next six months. The future business activity index climbed to its highest level in nearly three years, and 41%”

Tuesday, Jan. 26

FOMC Meeting Begins

7:45 a.m. EST: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This weekly index tracks aggregate store sales across major US retailers, accounting for roughly 10% of total retail sales.  Last week’s number rose 2.0% compared to a drop of -3.0% a week prior.

8:55 a.m. EST: Redbook (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Redbook is a weekly measurement of chain stores, discounters, and department store sales.  This indicator tends to be less significant than the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales in forecasting retail sales.  According to the Redbook store sales rose 0.9% last week on a yearly basis.

9:00 a.m. EST: November’s S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): It will be interesting to see what impact the would-be expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit will have on November’s housing prices.  Will sellers looking to sell their homes prior to the expiration have lowered prices or would a surge of buyers on the market help buoy home prices?  In October the Case Shiller Home Price Index ended five consecutive months of gains, lending some credence to the argument home sellers be lowering prices to liquidate their homes.

10:00 a.m. EST: January’s Consumer Confidence (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): Consumers continue to face a barrage of headwinds and tailwinds, which makes forecasting a rather volatile consumer confidence index a tough task.  Nevertheless, I anticipate that tailwinds will have a slight edge this month marginally pushing up the index.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a reading of 53.5, versus 52.9 in December.  Most of this index’s strength has been coming from its expectations component, while the present conditions index has moved back near interim lows.  This index tends to be closely correlated with ABC News comfort index and the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

10:00 a.m. EST: November’s FHFA House Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Unlike the Case Shiller Index the FHFA House Price Index rose by 0.6% on a monthly basis in November.  However, like the Case Shiller Index, it will be interesting to monitor what impact the would-be expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit will have on November’s housing prices.

10:00 a.m. EST: January’s State Street Investor Confidence Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The State Street Investor’s Confidence Index measures investors’ tolerance to risk. According to the State Street report in December, “This month’s up-tick in global investor confidence stemmed largely from an improvement in the mood in Asia, where risk appetite rose to an eight-month high,” commented Froot. “Elsewhere portfolio reallocations were modest. With three of the four indices over the neutral level of 100, institutions are continuing to add to their risky asset positions, but at a slower pace than was evident earlier in the year. Investors will be watching for signs of renewed economic growth, and well-designed exit strategies from policy makers, before making more significant reallocations towards risk in 2010.”

10:00 a.m. EST: January’s Richmond Fed’s Survey of Manufacturing (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The survey hit a soft patch last month after seven months of expansion.  According to the report, “Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region pulled back in December from positive territory after expanding during the previous seven months, according to the Richmond Fed’s latest survey. All broad indicators of activity — shipments, new orders and employment — landed in negative territory. Most other indicators also suggested additional softness. Capacity utilization turned negative following seven months of improvement, while backlogs held steady. Vendor delivery times were virtually unchanged, while manufacturers reported slightly quicker growth in inventories.”

Wednesday, Jan. 27

7:00 a.m. EST: MBA Mortgage Applications (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index, which tracks new mortgage applications tend to be a reasonable forward looking indicator for home sales, but issues including customers filling out numerous applications could skew the index.  Applications rose 9.1% last week after rising 14.3% a week prior.  Refinance applications jumped 10.7%, while purchase applications rose 4.4%.  A wave of buyers, filling out multiple mortgage applications, that were looking to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit–originally set to expire on Nov. 30th–have already completed their transactions, and have recently reduced the demand for mortgages.    However, the recent extension of the first time home buyer tax credit should eventually bring a new set of buyers into the market, which could help support the purchase index over the coming months.   The 4wk moving average of all mortgages was down 1% through the week of January 15^th.

10:00 a.m. EST: December’s New Home Sales (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Significant): Unlike, existing home sales, new home sales could experience a bit of a bounce in December after several months of relatively low readings.  However, the sharp drop-off in pending home sales(-16% in November) combined with what would have been the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit could place some pressure on the index, despite a rather optimistic consensus forecast.  It is true that the tax credit had a larger impacted on existing, but I anticipate there should be at least a marginal impact.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast for new home sales is 372K in December, versus 355K in November.

10:00 a.m. EST: December’s Mass Layoff Activity (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This data from the BLS will likely continue to show that mass layoff activity is subsiding.

10:00 a.m. EST: Timothy Geithner, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, testifies before House Oversignt Committee on AIG

10:30 a.m. EST: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report measures US domestic petroleum inventories.  Large unanticipated swings in this index could have a significant impact on energy prices.  Last week’s report showed a decline of -0.4 million barrels versus a rise of 3.7 million barrels a week prior.

2:15 p.m. EST: FOMC Announcement (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): It is hard to say whether the outcome of this meeting or the situation around Mr. Bernanke’s reconfirmation will garner more headlines in the press.  With that said I expect no change in policy, and nothing more than incremental changes to the FOMC’s statement (i.e. acknowledging recent improvements and highlighting risks).  I should also note that given this is the first meeting of 2010 the Fed will have a new voting rotation.  For those interested the new voters will be Boston’s Eric Rosengren, Cleveland’s Sandra Pianalto, St. Louis’ James Bullard, and Kansas City’s Thomas Hoenig.  As a side note, if Chairman Bernanke was not to be reconfirmed and Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn was to take his place, Kohn’s term is set for renewal by President Obama in June, which in theory could create another circus.  I personally expect Mr. Bernanke will be reconfirmed, but sadly I don’t have a vote.

9:00 p.m. EST: President Obama delivers his State of the Union Address to Congress

Thursday, Jan. 28

8:30 a.m. EST: December’s Durable Goods Orders (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): Stronger aircraft orders during the month should help bolster the index after rising 0.2% in November.  The current Bloomberg consensus is for an increase in December’s durable goods orders of 2.0%—I believe this may be slightly optimistic.

8:30 a.m. EST: December’s Chicago Fed National Activity Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The CFNAI is an index consisting of 85 separate data sets designed to encompass national economic activity and inflationary pressure. A reading of 0 indicates the economy is growing at the historical trend while a negative or positive result indicates the economy is growing below or above its historical average, respectively. Given the volatile nature of this index, the three-month moving average is typically quoted. This index remains somewhat obscure in the mainstream media and is likely to have a minimal impact on trading. This index has been generally trending up over the preceding ten months, and could show a marginal improvement in December from its reading of -0.32 in November.

8:30 a.m. EST: Jobless Claims (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Initial claims rose an unexpected 36K last week to 482K, after rising 11K a week prior.  The four week moving average rose to 448,250 from 440,750.  An improving trend in initial jobless claims are indicative of fewer job losses in the BLS’s monthly employment report; however, given the still elevated number of claims the job situation will get worse before it gets better.  The current Bloomberg consensus is for an initial jobless claims reading of 440K on Thursday.

10:30 a.m. EST: EIA Natural Gas Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic natural gas inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

11:00 a.m. EST: Kansas City Fed’s Manufacturing Survey (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Manufacturing growth remained positive, but moderate somewhat in the region in December.  According to the survey, “Growth in Tenth District manufacturing activity moderated somewhat in December, and producers were slightly less optimistic about the months ahead, with few planning major capital expenditures. Price indexes remained mostly stable.”

4:30 p.m. EST: Fed Balance Sheet & Money Supply (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Since the Fed’s shift to quantitative easing, the balance sheet has become one method to measure to the Fed’s effectiveness.  The market will pay close attention to the reserve bank credit component, which measures factors supplying   providing reserves into the banking system.  The Fed’s balance sheet fell from a record $2.274 trillion to $2.233 trillion last week.  The fed’s balance sheet has slowly been shifting away from emergency lending facilities to Treasuries, agency debt, and mortgage-backed securities to help moderate long-term interest rates.

Friday, Jan. 29

8:30 a.m. EST: First Estimate 4Q09 GDP (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): The current Bloomberg Consensus forecast is for fourth quarter GDP growth to come in at 4.5%, versus 2.2% a quarter prior.  Personally, I believe this forecast may be slightly too optimistic, and expect the number to be closer to 4%.  Slower inventory liquidations combined with a jump in consumption should prove to be the quarter’s biggest growth engines.   While on the surface the number will look positive, questions will be asked about the sustainability of this growth.  A portion of this growth is still being supported through accommodative fiscal and monetary stimulus, which will eventually begin to wane.  For more on this please see my piece ‘Looking at 2010’s Outlook and Risks’.  I expect GDP growth to peak in either 4Q09 or 1Q10 then gradually diminish throughout the remainder of the year, albeit remaining positive.  In terms of the Fed, relatively tepid growth in a post recession period combined with ultra-high unemployment and subdued inflation should convince the fed to remain on hold through most of 2010.  After the release, don’t be surprised to see a barrage of experts analyzing the details for clues over the sustainability of this growth—you know where I stand.

8:30 a.m. EST: 4Q09 Employment Cost Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Mostly stagnant salaries and wages, offset by some potential increases in benefit payments, should lead to only a modest increment in fourth quarter employment costs.  In the third quarter the index rose 0.4% indicating that wage pressure remains relatively benign.

*9:45 a.m. EST: Chicago PMI (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): The Chicago PMI measures business activity in the mid-West, and is released one business day prior to the ISM. *I should note that the Chicago PMI is released several minutes early to subscribers, so the market could begin reacting to the data as early as 9:42 a.m.  The Chicago PMI is considered a forward looking indicator to the national ISM, so any large unexpected shifts in the Chicago PMI could impact trading.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a reading of 57.0, versus to 60.0 in December.  The PMI covers both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.

9:55 a.m. EST: January’s Final Consumer Sentiment (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): January’s final consumer sentiment release will likely be mostly unchanged from the preliminary reading of 72.8.  The index has been trending up, but concerns over the job market and other adverse factors are limiting the upside.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a final reading of 73.0.

3:00 p.m. EST: January’s Farm Prices (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Given the relationship between farms prices and food prices, this index could have significant implications on future headline CPI.

Enjoy the weekend!

Retailers are not dreaming of a white Christmas.  Whether a snowstorm impacting the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend will impact an arguably lackluster holiday shopping season is yet to be seen.  But, bad weather does have a tendency of keeping would be shoppers home, however, these shoppers will still have access to online stores, but given the proximity to the holiday, would likely be forced to dish out expedited shipping charges.  Despite the shortened week the market will be receiving several early Christmas presents including November’s new and existing home sales data, durable goods orders, personal income and outlays, and finally December’s final consumer sentiment reading.  Given the holiday many market participants will likely be away from their desks, which could cause higher than usually volatility on the back of light buying.  Investors will also be paying close attention to Thursday’s jobless claims data after disappointing data last week.

On the earnings front we will be hearing from Micron (MU), Red Hat (RHT), Walgreen (WAG), and Conagra (CAG).  Investors will also want to look for headlines from Iraq where it has been reported that Iran took over an oil well in the south of the country.  If the situation escalates, geopolitical instability in the Middle East not only has the potential cause a spike in oil prices, but could draw investors away from risk.  On oil, OPEC is scheduled to meet next week, and will likely keep production unchanged.  Enjoy the holidays.

Here is the rest of this week’s US calendar:

Monday, Dec. 21

8:30 a.m. EST: November’s Chicago Fed National Activity Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The CFNAI is an index consisting of 85 separate data sets designed to encompass national economic activity and inflationary pressure. A reading of 0 indicates the economy is growing at the historical trend while a negative or positive result indicates the economy is growing below or above its historical average, respectively. Given the volatile nature of this index, the three-month moving average is typically quoted. This index remains somewhat obscure in the mainstream media and is likely to have a minimal impact on trading. This index has been trending upwards over the preceding nine months, and should show some improvement in November from its reading of -1.08 in October.

Tuesday, Dec. 22

7:45 a.m. EST: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This weekly index tracks aggregate store sales across major US retailers, accounting for roughly 10% of total retail sales.  Given recent data supporting an increasing US saving rates and a worsening employment situation, this index could face some downward pressure.  Last week’s number rose +0.4% compared to a drop of -1.3% a week prior.

8:30 a.m. EST: Third Quarter 2009 GDP (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): I anticipate that very little will change from the BEA’s preliminary estimate of third quarter 2009 GDP at 2.8%.  The preliminary estimate was down markedly from the BEA’s advanced estimate of 3.5%.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a reading of 2.8%.  This release should be a non-event barring any unforeseen revisions.

8:30 a.m. EST: Third Quarter Revised Corporate Profits (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The importance of this release is somewhat muted given its timing toward the end of the 3Q09 earnings season.  However, since these profits tie into GDP growth, and do not always move lock step with individual corporations’ aggregate earnings data, the data can have an unexpected impact on growth.  The original 3Q09 corporate profits release indicated profits grew at 10.6%.

8:55 a.m. EST: Redbook (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Redbook is a weekly measurement of chain stores, discounters, and department store sales.  This indicator tends to be less significant than the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales in forecasting retail sales.  According to the Redbook store sales rose 1.5% last week on a yearly basis.

10:00 a.m. EST: November’s Existing Home Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Pending home sales rose 3.7% in October, which should bode well for November’s existing home sales.  Existing home sales jumped 10.1% in October, primarily due to buyers rushing contracts to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit prior to its original expiration in November.  The supply of existing homes continued to fall to 7.0 months from 8.0 months in September. The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a rate of existing home sales of 6.25 million in November versus 6.10 million in October.

10:00 a.m. EST: FHFA House Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly house price index is compiled by using loan data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which means all the data within the index consists of conventional mortgages within the limitations of the GSE’s.  The FHFA’s monthly purchase only index was unchanged in September, while August’s reading was revised down to -0.5% from -0.3%.  The monthly index tends to be relatively volatile, but should continue to trend up in-line with the Case-Shiller home price index.

Wednesday, Dec. 23

7:00 a.m. EST: MBA Mortgage Applications (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index, which tracks new mortgage applications tends to be a reasonable forward looking indicator for home sales, but issues including customers filling out numerous applications could skew the index.  Applications rose 0.3% last week after rising 8.5% a week prior.  Refinance applications rose modestly be 0.9%, while purchase applications fell -0.1%.  A wave of buyers, filling out multiple mortgage applications, that were looking to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit–originally set to expire on Nov. 30th–have already completed their transactions, and have recently reduced the demand for mortgages.    However, the recent extension of the first time home buyer tax credit should eventually bring a new set of buyers into the market, which could help support the purchase index over the coming months.

8:30 a.m. EST: November’s Personal Income and Outlays (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Personal income should continue to extend it gains, growing for a fifth consecutive month, while spending should also rise on stronger motor vehicle sales during November.  More importantly, headline and core CPI should remain relatively tame, placing inflationary concerns on the back burner, at least for the time being.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for an increase in income of 0.5% (0.2% in October), and an increase in spending of 0.6% (0.7% in October), while core PCE is anticipated to rise a modest 0.1% (0.2% in October) in November.

9:55 a.m. EST: December’s Final Consumer Sentiment (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): December’s preliminary consumer sentiment index jump to 73.4 from a reading of 67.4 in November.  Improving market conditions and some better than anticipated labor data during the month should provide a modest bump in December’s final sentiment reading.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a reading of 73.5.

10:00 a.m. EST: November’s New Home Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): As with existing home sales, new home sales likely rose in November.  The rate of new home sales in October was the highest rate since September 2008, and November’s release should be even higher.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for the rate of new home sales to increase to 440K from 430K a month prior.

10:30 a.m. EST: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report measures US domestic petroleum inventories.  Large unanticipated swings in this index could have a significant impact on energy prices.  Last week this report showed an unexpected decline of -3.7 million barrels versus a drop of -3.8 million barrels a week prior.

Thursday, Dec. 24

8:30 a.m. EST: November’s Durable Goods (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): Durable goods orders should recover a portion of October’s -0.6% decline on the back of stronger motor vehicle sales during the month.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for an increment in durable goods orders of 0.5%, versus a drop of -0.6% a month prior. Unfortunately, last month’s number excluding the volatile transportation component fell -1.3%.  Additionally, an unexpected jump in civilian aircraft orders last month (+50%) may have been overstated and I anticipate this could lead to a strong drop of this component in November.

8:30 a.m. EST: Jobless Claims (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Initial claims rose 7K last week to 480K, after rising 17K a week prior. Despite the increment in last week’s claim data the four week moving average improved to 467,500 from 473,750.  Improving initial jobless claims are indicative of fewer job losses in the BLS’s monthly employment report; however, the job situation will still get worse before it gets better.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is expecting claims to come in at 470K, a decrease of -10K from last week.

10:30 a.m. EST: EIA Natural Gas Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic natural gas inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

4:30 p.m. EST: Fed Balance Sheet & Money Supply (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Since the Fed’s shift to quantitative easing, the balance sheet has become one method to measure to the Fed’s effectiveness.  The market will pay close attention to the reserve bank credit component, which measures factors supplying   providing reserves into the banking system.  The Fed’s balance sheet jumped last week to US$2.218trn from US$2.169trn, due increased purchases of agency MBS.    The fed’s balance sheet has slowly been shifting away from emergency lending facilities to Treasuries, agency debt, and mortgage-backed securities to help moderate long-term interest rates.

Friday, Dec. 25

All Markets Closed—Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the weekend!

On the economic front the market will be encountering some important housing related releases in addition to the Fed’s Beige Book on Wednesday.  On the housing front, on Monday the market will get a peak at October’s NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, followed by housing starts on Tuesday.  However, the most important housing release of the week should be existing home sales for September, which is being reported on Friday.  This index unexpectedly declined last month, causing investors to question the sustainability of the retrenchment of the US housing market.  Nevertheless, the fact that the inventory of existing homes declined to a 2.5 year low was somewhat overlooked.  However, rising mortgage delinquencies and a weakening labor market continue to cast a shadow over a sustained recovery in the sector.  Other important indicators this week include housing starts and PPI on Tuesday, and jobless claims and September’s leading indicator index on Thursday.  The week will also see quite a bit of Fed speak, which could generate some headlines as investors look for clues on when the Fed may begin to remove begin removing support from the markets.

Nonetheless, the show this week will probably be stolen by a slew of earnings releases that include 3M, Apple, Caterpillar, Microsoft, McDonald’s, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, American Express, and DuPont—to name a few.  Also, Windows 7 is schedule for release on Thursday, which could lead to an increase in computer spending.

Here is the rest of this week’s US calendar:

Monday, Oct. 19

1:00 p.m. EDT: October’s Housing Market Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is unlikely to show much improvement this month as the US Congress continues debating over whether or not to extend or enlarge the first time home buyer tax credit.  Prior to October, the index has experienced three consecutive months of gains.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a reading of 20, compared to last month’s reading of 19. 

Tuesday, Oct. 20

7:45 a.m. EDT: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This weekly index tracks aggregate store sales across major US retailers, accounting for roughly 10% of total retail sales.  Given recent data supporting an increasing US saving rates and a worsening employment situation, this index could face some downward pressure.  Last week’s number indicated a weekly increment of 0.6% in store sales compared to a gain of 0.3% a week prior.

8:30 a.m. EDT: September’s Housing Starts (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): According to the Bloomberg consensus forecast September’s housing starts are expected to increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.615 million units compared to August’s level of 0.598 million units.  Housing starts have essentially moved sideways over the past several months.  But, given the large supply of homes already on the market this may not be entirely bad.  It will be important to monitor the level of new building permits in the release as it is forward looking to starts.

8:30 a.m. EDT: September’s Producer Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): Lower energy prices for the month will likely bring down September’s producer price index down after gaining 1.7% in August.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a decline of -0.3%.  The core-PPI is expected to show a modest gain with a consensus forecast of +0.1%.

8:55 a.m. EDT: Redbook (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Redbook is a weekly measurement of chain stores, discounters, and department store sales.  This indicator tends to be less significant than the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales in forecasting retail sales.  According to the Redbook store sales were rose 0.6% last week on a year over year basis.

8:00 p.m. EDT: Charles Plosser, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President, is giving a speech on monetary policy to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

Wednesday, Oct. 21

7:00 a.m. EDT: MBA Purchase Applications (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index, which tracks new mortgage applications tends to be a reasonable forward looking indicator for home sales, but issues including customers filling out numerous applications could skew the index.  Last week’s data declined 1.8% after jumping 16.0% a week prior.  The refinance index fell 0.1%, while the purchase index fell 5%. Refinances made up 67.4% of all applications last week.

10:30 a.m. EDT: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report measures US domestic petroleum inventories.  Large unanticipated swings in this index could have a significant impact on energy prices.  Last week this report showed a rise of 0.4 million barrels versus a decline of -1.0 million barrels a week prior.

2:00 p.m. EDT: Beige Book (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): Investors will be looking to see if any of the Fed’s districts begin reporting modest growth.  The Beige Book has been growing somewhat more optimistic with most of the Fed’s district reporting that declines were at least leveling off or stabilizing.

4:30 p.m. EDT: Eric Rosengren, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President, is opening the Boston Fed’s annual economic conference on re-evaluating regulatory and monetary policy.

Thursday, Oct. 22

8:30 a.m. EDT: Jobless Claims (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Initial claims fell last week by 10K to 514K, after falling 33K a week prior. Despite second derivative improvements these numbers still indicate further deterioration to upcoming payroll numbers, and the unemployment rate, which is very likely to exceed 10% in the coming months. The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is expecting a modest uptick for this week’s initial claims release to 519K from 514K.

10:00 a.m. EDT: FHFA House Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly house price index is compiled by using loan data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which means all the data within the index consists of conventional mortgages within the limitations of the GSE’s.  The FHFA’s monthly purchase only index gained 0.3% in July with Junes +0.5% increment being revised down to 0.1%.  The monthly index tends to be relatively volatile, but should continue to trend up in-line with the Case-Shiller home price index.

10:00 a.m. EDT: September’s Leading Indicators (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): The Conference Board’s Index of leading indicators should rise for the sixth consecutive month in September.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is expecting a +0.9% rise for the month, compared to a +0.6% increment in August.  The biggest positive contributions for the index will likely come from the yield curve, UMich expectations index, and jobless claims.

10:30 A.M. EDT: Eric Rosengren, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President, is presenting a paper on whether financial stability should be added to central banks objective.

10:30 a.m. EDT: EIA Natural Gas Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic natural gas inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

1:30 P.M. EDT: William Dudley, New York Federal Reserve Bank President, will be moderating a panel on monetary policy instruments and the Fed’s supervisory function.

4:30 p.m. EDT: Fed Balance Sheet & Money Supply (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Since the Fed’s shift to quantitative easing, the balance sheet has become one method to measure to the Fed’s effectiveness.  The market will pay close attention to the reserve bank credit component, which measures factors supplying   providing reserves into the banking system.  The Fed’s balance sheet again declined last week to US$2.174trn from US$2.120trn a week prior.  The main catalyst behind the rise was an increase in the holdings of Treasury and mortgage bonds.  The fed’s balance sheet has slowly been shifting away from emergency lending facilities to Treasuries, agency debt, and mortgage-backed securities to help moderate long-term interest rates.

Friday, Oct.23

8:30 a.m. EDT: Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, will give a speech on the supervisory landscape at the Boston Fed’s economic conference.

10:00 a.m. EDT: September Existing Home Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Strong pending home sales should help bolster existing home sales after last month’s surprising decline.   The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is projecting an increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million unites, compared to 5.10 million units a month prior.  Despite last month’s decline in home sales the inventory of existing homes dropped to 8.5 months from 9.3 months in July.  It may also be possible we could see a spike in this data as potential home buyers try to close deals before the current expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit on November 30^th.

11:30 a.m. EDT: Donald Kohn, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, will participate in a panel related to international perspectives at the Boston Fed’s economic conference.

Enjoy the weekend!

Undoubtedly the most important item on this week’s calendar will be Wednesday’s FOMC announcement, which is highly unlikely to show any changes to the current policy stance.  But, as always, the market will be paying close attention the wording of the FOMC’s statement, which turned slightly more constructive last month indicating that financial markets have improved and that economic activity had begun to ‘level out’.  But, there is a possibility that the FOMC could provide some additional information regarding the fate of its Treasury purchase program.  The program is currently set to slowly expire by the end of October.  This week’s other notable indicators include new and existing home sales, which are both expected to rise for the fifth consecutive month.  In addition home builders Lennar Corp. (LEN) and KB Home (KBH) are scheduled to release earnings on Monday and Friday, respectively.  The market will also be being paying attention to Friday’s durable goods release, which should show continued strength in August due to support from the US government’s Cash for Clunkers program.  Finally, G20 nations will be meeting on Thursday and Friday in Pittsburgh, PA to discuss a variety of topics that could drive some headlines.

Here is the rest of this week’s US calendar:

Monday September 21^st:

10:00AM: Leading Indicators (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): August’s leading economic indicator will likely experience its fifth consecutive month of positive readings, helping to confirm Ben Bernanke’s recent comments that the recession has ended.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for a gain of +0.7%, compared to an increment of +0.6% in July.  Stock prices, the yield curve, and vendor performance should have the largest positive impact on the index for the month, while money supply and jobless claims will add some negative pressure.  The LEI is a good forward looking indicator toward future industrial production and ISM performance.

Tuesday September 22^nd:

7:45AM: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Marginal): This weekly index tracks aggregate store sales across major US retailers, accounting for roughly 10% of total retail sales.  Given recent data supporting an increasing US saving rates and a worsening employment situation, this index could face some downward pressure.  Last week’s number indicated no change in store sales compared to an increase of +0.6% a week prior.

8:55AM: Redbook (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Redbook is a weekly measurement of chain stores, discounters, and department store sales.  This indicator tends to be less significant than the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales in forecasting retail sales.  According to the Redbook store sales were down -1.9% last week on a year over year basis.

10:00AM: FHFA House Price Index (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly house price index is compiled by using loan data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which means all the data within the index consists of conventional mortgages within the limitations of the GSE’s.  The FHFA’s monthly purchase only index gained of 0.5% in June with May’s number being revised up to +0.6%.  The monthly index tends to be relatively volatile, but should continue to trend up in-line with the Case-Shiller home price index.

10:00AM: Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): The Richmond Fed manufacturing activity index has been in positive territory since May, and should remain there this month based on what has been a strong new orders component.   The overall current conditions index was unchanged in August from July at 14.

Wednesday September 23^rd:

7:00AM: MBA Purchase Applications (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): This index, which tracks new mortgage applications tends to be a reasonable forward looking indicator for home sales, but issues including customers filling out numerous applications could skew the index.  Last week’s data showed a decline of 8.6% due to the effects of the shortened week.  The refinance index fell 7.4%, while the purchase index dropped 10.3%. These declines were likely due to the shortened Labor Day week, and slightly higher, albeit relatively low, mortgage rates.

10:30AM: EIA Petroleum Status Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report measures US domestic petroleum inventories.  Large unanticipated swings in this index could have a significant impact on energy prices.  Last week this report showed a decline of -4.7mn barrels versus a decline of -5.9mn barrels a week prior.

2:15AM: FOMC Meeting Announcement: The market is unlikely to witness any drastic deviations in Fed policy this month with the target range remaining between 0.0% and 0.25%.  But, the market will be looking for any changes to wording in the Fed’s policy statement that could indicate a more constructive outlook for US economic activity or financial markets.  The Fed may also make an announcement regarding the fate of its Treasury purchased program, which is set to expire at the end of October.  The FOMC had this to say about the program in its last statement, “To promote the a smooth transition in markets as these purchases of Treasury securities are completed, the Committee has decided to gradually slow the pace of these transactions and anticipates that the full amount will be purchases by the end of October. The Committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets.”

Thursday September 24^th:

G-20 Conference Begins in Pittsburgh PA

8:30AM: Jobless Claims (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): Initial claims fell last week by 5K to 545K. Initial claims should continue to demonstrate marginal improvements over the coming months as weakness in the labor market slowly abates. But, make no mistake about it these levels are still uncomfortably high, and will continue to adversely impact the US payroll data for some time.  In fact using a simple regression analysis claims at their current levels would indicate a decline in payrolls of roughly 480K, however, recently this model has been exaggerating the actual effect on payrolls, but nevertheless is a cause for concern going forward.  The current Bloomberg consensus for this week’s initial claims release is 550K. The marginal forecasted increment is still due to the potential seasonal effects of the later than usual Labor Day Holiday.

10:00AM: Existing Home Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): A strong pending home sales number in July should help continue the upward momentum for August’s existing home sales.  The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is for an increase to 5.35mn from 5.24mn in July.  Existing home sales have risen for four month consecutive months, reaching a two-year high in July, which will likely be usurped by August’s data.

10:30AM: EIA Natural Gas Report (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Moderate): This report highlights domestic natural gas inventories, which could have a significant impact on the energy sector.

1:00PM: Christina Romer, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers is giving the keynote address to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank’s International Banking Conference

4:30PM: Fed Balance Sheet & Money Supply (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Marginal): Since the Fed’s shift to quantitative easing, the balance sheet has become one method to measure to the Fed’s effectiveness.  The market will pay close attention to the reserve bank credit component, which measures factors supplying   providing reserves into the banking system.  The Fed’s balance sheet rose again last week to US$2.125trn from US$2.072trn a week prior.  The fed’s balance sheet has slowly been shifting away from emergency lending facilities to Treasuries, agency debt, and mortgage-backed securities to help moderate long-term interest rates.

Friday September 25^th:

8:30AM: Durable Goods (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): The US government’s Cash for Clunkers program should continue to help bolster August’s durable goods orders, which according to the Bloomberg consensus forecast is anticipated to rise by 1.0%, compared to July’s increment of 4.9% stemming from strong civilian aircraft activity.

9:55AM: Consumer Sentiment (Risk: Negative, Market Reaction: Significant): The current Bloomberg consensus forecast is anticipating no change in September’s Reuter’s/University of Michigan’s Consumer sentiment index compared to the month’s preliminary reading of 70.2.  However, a paradoxical comment by the index’s publisher earlier this month highlighted consumers’ concerns over their individual situation, which I believe could adversely impact the index.  The comment said, “Confidence rebounded in early September as consumers increasingly expected the economy to improve despite their reluctant conclusion that their own financial situation would remain quite problematic for some time.”

10:00AM: New Home Sales (Risk: Neutral, Market Reaction: Significant): As with existing home sales, new home sales should rise in August, with the current Bloomberg consensus forecast anticipating a rise to 445K from 433K in July.  Last month was the index’s fourth consecutive increment.  It will also be important to pay close attention to the inventory of new houses, which fell in July to 7.5 months from 8.5 in June; this was the lowest reading since April 2007.  Going forward it will be important to monitor whether or not the US first time home buyer program is extended.  It is presently scheduled to expire on November 30^th, and has likely had a positive contribution on the housing market.  Some reports have indicated that 25% of total home sales may be attributable to the program.

1:15PM:  Kevin Warsh, Federal Reserve Board Governor is set to speak at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank’s International Banking Conference

Enjoy the weekend!