by Calculated Risk on 5/18/2019 08:11:00 AM

The key reports this week are April New and Existing Home Sales.

For manufacturing, the May Kansas City manufacturing survey will be released.

----- Monday, May 20th -----
8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April. This is a composite index of other data.

----- Tuesday, May 21st -----
10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for April from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 5.36 million SAAR, up from 5.21 million.

The graph shows existing home sales from 1994 through the report last month.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report sales of 5.31 million SAAR for April.

----- Wednesday, May 22nd -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for April (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

2:00 PM: FOMC Minutes, Meeting of April 30-May 1, 2019

----- Thursday, May 23rd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 217 thousand initial claims, up from 212 thousand last week.

10:00 AM: New Home Sales for April from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows New Home Sales since 1963. The dashed line is the sales rate for last month.

The consensus is for 678 thousand SAAR, down from 692 thousand in March.

11:00 AM: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for May.

----- Friday, May 24th -----
8:30 AM: Durable Goods Orders for April from the Census Bureau. The consensus is for a 2.0% decrease in durable goods orders.