by Calculated Risk on 7/28/2013 09:13:00 PM

Monday:
• 10:00 AM ET, the NAR will release the Pending Home Sales Index for June. The consensus is for a 1.4% decrease in the index.

• At 10:30 AM, Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for July. This is the last of the regional manufacturing surveys for July. The consensus is a reading of 6.4, mostly unchanged from the reading of 6.5 in June (above zero is expansion).

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of July 28th

• FOMC Preview: Economic Slowdown

More support for Dr. Janet Yellen from Professor Hamilton at Econbrowser: The case for Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair

I have known Governor Yellen for many years, from the days when she was a professor at Berkeley to her distinguished service within the Federal Reserve. I have had an opportunity to interact with her in a variety of settings.

Yellen is brilliant ... Yellen is one of the people I would trust most to be able to sort out what the key problems are and what needs to be done in any new situation. ...

If you examine her speeches and public statements, you will find that she has been one of the most accurate economic forecasters within the Federal Reserve, or for that matter compared with any private-sector economic analysts.

The Nikkei is down about 1.8%.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P futures are up slightly and DOW futures are up 3 (fair value).

Oil prices have declined slightly with WTI futures at $104.71 per barrel and Brent at $107.35 per barrel. The spread between WTI and Brent is back (but still small).

Below is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are starting to decline again.  If you click on "show crude oil prices", the graph displays oil prices for WTI, not Brent; gasoline prices in most of the U.S. are impacted more by Brent prices.

Orange County Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com