by Calculated Risk on 8/12/2017 08:11:00 AM

The key economic reports this week are July retail sales and Housing Starts.

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

----- Monday, Aug 14th -----
No major economic releases scheduled.

----- Tuesday, Aug 15th -----
8:30 AM ET: Retail sales for July will be released.  The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in retail sales.

This graph shows retail sales since 1992 through June 2017.

8:30 AM: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for August. The consensus is for a reading of 10.0, up from 9.8.

10:00 AM: Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales (business inventories) report for June.  The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in inventories.

10:00 AM: The August NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of 65, up from 64 in July. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

----- Wednesday, Aug 16th -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:30 AM: Housing Starts for July. The consensus is for 1.225 million SAAR, up from the June rate of 1.215 million.

This graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

The graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then - after moving sideways for a couple of years - housing is now recovering.

2:00 PM: FOMC Minutes for the Meeting of 25 - 26, 2017

----- Thursday, Aug 17th -----
8:30 AM ET: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 241 thousand initial claims, down from 244 thousand the previous week.

8:30 AM: the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for August. The consensus is for a reading of 17.0, down from 19.5.

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

This graph shows industrial production since 1967.

The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to increase to 76.7%.

----- Friday, Aug 18th -----
10:00 AM: University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (preliminary for August). The consensus is for a reading of 93.9, up from 93.4 in July.

10:00 AM: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for July 2017