by Calculated Risk on 9/30/2012 09:07:00 PM

For the economic question contest in September, the leaders were (Congratulations all!):

1st: Andrew Marrinson
2nd: Daniel Brawdy
3rd tie: Billy Forney, Walt Tucker

On Monday:
• At 10:00 AM ET, the ISM Manufacturing Index for September will be released. The ISM index has shown contraction for three consecutive months; the first contraction in the ISM index since the recession ended in 2009. The consensus is for an increase to 49.7, up from 49.6 in August. (below 50 is contraction).

• At 10:00 AM, the Construction Spending report for August will be released. The consensus is for a 0.6% increase in construction spending.

• At 12:30 PM, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak: "Five Questions about the Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy", At the Economic Club of Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana

The Asian markets are mixed tonight, with the Nikkei down 0.6%.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P futures are down slightly, and the DOW futures up slightly.

Oil prices are mixed with WTI futures up slightly at $92.19 and Brent down at $112.07 per barrel.

Yesterday:
• Summary for Week Ending Sept 28th
• Schedule for Week of Sept 30th

Five questions this week for the October economic prediction contest (Note: You can now use Facebook, Twitter, or OpenID to log in).