Schedule for Week of Sept 18, 2016

The key economic reports this week are August housing starts and Existing Home Sales.

The FOMC meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and no change to policy is expected.

----- Monday, Sept 19th -----
10:00 AM: The September NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of  60, unchanged from 60 in August.  Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

----- Tuesday, Sept 20th -----
8:30 AM: Housing Starts for August.

Total housing starts increased to 1.211 million (SAAR) in July. Single family starts increased to 770 thousand SAAR in July.

The consensus for 1.190 million, down from the July rate.

10:00 AM: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for August 2016

----- Wednesday, Sept 21st -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for August (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

2:00 PM: FOMC Meeting Announcement. No change to the Fed Funds rate is expected at this meeting.

2:00 PM: FOMC Forecasts This will include the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants' projections of the appropriate target federal funds rate along with the quarterly economic projections.

2:30 PM: Fed Chair Janet Yellen holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.

----- Thursday, Sept 22nd -----
8:30 AM ET: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 261 thousand initial claims, up from 260 thousand the previous week.

8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August. This is a composite index of other data.

9:00 AM: FHFA House Price Index for July 2016. This was originally a GSE only repeat sales, however there is also an expanded index.  The consensus is for a 0.4% month-to-month increase for this index.

10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for August from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 5.44 million SAAR, up from 5.39 million in July.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report sales of 5.49 million SAAR in August, up 1.9% from July’s preliminary pace.

----- Friday, Sept 23rd -----
No major releases scheduled.

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