USD - Major events in the week ahead

Friday, Jan 26 2018

Events that marked the week:

On Wednesday Existing Home Sales data was published. Existing home sales declined 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units last month amid decreases in all four regions. Unseasonably cold weather probably accounted for some of the weakness as sales in the Northeast and Midwest fell sharply. November’s sales pace was revised down to 5.78 million units, still the highest level since February 2007. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home sales falling 2.2 percent to a 5.70 million-unit rate in December from a previously reported 5.81 million-unit pace in November.

Thursday brought New Home Sales and Unemployment Claims figures. Sales of new single-family houses in December 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 9.3 percent below the revised November rate of 689,000, but is 14.1 percent above the December 2016 estimate of 548,000. An estimated 608,000 new homes were sold in 2017. This is 8.3 percent (±4.1 percent) above the 2016 figure of 561,000.

Separate report on Unemployment Claims showed that in the week ending January 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 233,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 220,000 to 216,000. The 4-week moving average was 240,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 1,000 from 244,500 to 243,500.

Friday was marked by GDP and Durable Goods Orders figures. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.2 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency.The "second" estimate for the fourth quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on February 28, 2018.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $7.0 billion or 2.9 percent to $249.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up four of the last five months, followed a 1.7 percent November increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 2.2 percent. Transportation equipment, also up four of the last five months, led the increase, $6.0 billion or 7.4 percent to $87.2 billion.

This week markets will be looking at:

CB Consumer Confidence (Tuesday 16:00)

ADP Non-Farm Employment Change (Wednesday 14:15)

Pending Home Sales (Wednesday 16:00)

Federal Funds Rate/FOMC Statement (Wednesday 20:00)

Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)

ISM Manufacturing PMI (Thursday 16:00)

Non-Farm Employment Change/Unemployment Rate (Friday 14:30)

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