by Calculated Risk on 1/01/2018 09:20:00 PM

Happy New Year!

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of Dec 31, 2017

• Question #1 for 2018: How much will the economy grow in 2018?
• Question #2 for 2018: Will job creation slow further in 2018?
• Question #3 for 2018: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2018?
• Question #4 for 2018: Will the core inflation rate rise in 2018? Will too much inflation be a concern in 2018?
• Question #5 for 2018: Will the Fed raise rates in 2018, and if so, by how much?
• Question #6 for 2018: How much will wages increase in 2018?
• Question #7 for 2018: How much will Residential Investment increase?
• Question #8 for 2018: What will happen with house prices in 2018?
• Question #9 for 2018: Will housing inventory increase or decrease in 2018?
• Question #10 for 2018: Will the New Tax Law impact Home Sales, Inventory, and Price Growth in Certain States?

Tuesday:
• At 10:00 AM. Corelogic House Price index for November.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: S&P 500 are up 5, and DOW futures are up 48 (fair value).

Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $60.23 per barrel and Brent at $66.87 per barrel.  A year ago, WTI was at $53, and Brent was at $55 - so oil prices are up solidly year-over-year.

Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at $2.48 per gallon. A year ago prices were at $2.34 per gallon - so gasoline prices are up 14 cents per gallon year-over-year.