Existing Home Sales at an annual rate of 5.35 million

Total existing-home sales retreated 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in August from 5.44 million in July. Last month's sales pace is 0.2 percent above last August, and is the lowest since then. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the slump in existing sales stretched into August despite what remains a solid level of demand for buying a home.

U.S. Housing Starts Steady, Permits Rise Ahead of Hurricanes

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,300,000. This is 5.7 percent above the revised July rate of 1,230,000 and is 8.3 percent above the August 2016 rate of 1,200,000. Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 800,000; this is 1.5 percent below the revised July figure of 812,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 464,000 in August.

USD - Major events in the week ahead

Events that marked the week:

On Friday Retail Sales, Industrial Production and Consumer Sentiment data was published. An unexpected decline in August retail sales and downward revisions to the prior two months mainly reflected weaker results at auto dealerships, Commerce Department figures showed Friday. Overall sales fell 0.2% (est. 0.1% gain) after a 0.3% increase (prev. 0.6% gain); June sales dropped 0.1% (prev. 0.3% rise).

UoM Consumer Sentiment in line with market expectations

U.S. consumer sentiment dipped in September as Americans expressed concern about the economic and inflationary impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, University of Michigan survey data showed Friday. Preliminary sentiment index fell to 95.3 (est. 95) from 96.8 in August.