by Calculated Risk on 7/10/2012 09:31:00 PM

On Wednesday the focus will be on the May trade balance report and the minutes of the June FOMC meeting:

• At 7:00 AM ET, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the weekly mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, the Trade Balance report for May is scheduled to be released by the Census Bureau. The consensus is for the U.S. trade deficit to decrease to $48.7 billion in May, down from from $50.1 billion in April. Export activity to Europe will be closely watched due to economic weakness. Also oil prices started to decline in April, and that will probably reduce the value of oil imports in May.

• At 10:00 AM, the Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories report for May will be released. The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in inventories.

• At 2:00 PM, the FOMC Minutes for the Meeting of June 19-20 will be released.


A question for the July economic contest: