Mon. May 16
Tues. May 17, 10:00 a.m. ET April Housing Starts & Building Permits, estimates +3.8% +0.8%
Tues. May 17, 9:15 a.m. ET April Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization, estimates +0.6% vs. last +0.8% 77.7% vs. last 77.4%
Wed. May 18, 2:00 p.m. ET Minutes from the April FOMC meeting
Thurs. May 19, 8:30 a.m. ET Initial jobless claims for the week ended 5/7, estimate Down 20,000 to
410,000
Until the total number of first-time claims for jobless benefits
once again falls below 400,000 on a week-over-week basis --
this data will tend to support steady mortgage interest rates.
Thurs. May 19, 10:00 a.m. ET April Leading Indicators, estimates +0.2% vs. last +0.4%
Thurs. May 19, 10:00 a.m. ET April Existing Home Sales, estimate Up 1.9%
The pace of existing home sales is starting to show month over-
month improvement – suggesting to some analysts that
the housing sector may be within months of reaching a
meaningful bottom. Affordability is at its best levels in more
than 17-years and 30-year mortgage rates are within shouting
distance of their record lows. This data will certainly draw a
glance from mortgage investors but will otherwise not likely be
a factor in determining the near-term direction of note rates.
Fri. May 20,
