by Calculated Risk on 4/14/2018 08:11:00 AM

The key economic reports this week are March Housing Starts and Retail Sales.

For manufacturing, March industrial production, and the April New York, and Philly Fed manufacturing surveys, will be released this week.

----- Monday, Apr 16th -----
8:30 AM ET: Retail sales for March will be released.  The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in retail sales.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993. Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 3.9% on a YoY basis in February.

8:30 AM ET: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for April. The consensus is for a reading of 18.2, down from 22.5.

10:00 AM: The April NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of  70, unchanged from 70 in March. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

10:00 AM: Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales (business inventories) report for February.  The consensus is for a 0.6% increase in inventories.

----- Tuesday, Apr 17th -----

8:30 AM: Housing Starts for March.

This graph shows single and total housing starts since 1968.

The consensus is for 1.269 million SAAR, up from 1.236 million SAAR in February.

9:15 AM: The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for March.

This graph shows industrial production since 1967.

The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to decrease to 78.0%.

----- Wednesday, Apr 18th -----
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 March (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, Apr 19th -----
8:30 AM ET: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 226 thousand initial claims, down from 233 thousand the previous week.

8:30 AM: the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for April. The consensus is for a reading of 20.1, down from 22.3.

----- Friday, Apr 20th -----
10:00 AM: State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for March 2018